Session: General Poster:

Due to the advantages of low cost, easy operation, and large surface area to volume, electrospun nanofibers has long been researched as a proper delivery system in the food industry. Gelatin has been researched as an ideal candidate for fast dissolving nanofibrous film fabrication. Glycerol monolaurate (GML) is approved as a generally recognized as safe food additive by the US Food and Drug Administration. However, the physical properties of GML such high melting point and poor solubility in water lead to difficulties in its use as an antimicrobial. Emulsion electrospinning has been rapidly developing for its effectiveness of encapsulating both hydrophobic and hydrophilic bioactive for controlled release and bioactivity. The gelatin/GML microemulsion nanofibers were fabricated by solubilizing GML in Tween 80 and then mixed with gelatin for electrospinning. The addition of GML microemulsions did not affect the electrospinnability and uniform morphology was observed. The solutions with GML microemulsions showed more pronounced shear-shinning effects and the intermolecular interactions between gelatin and GML microemulsion resulted in a higher average diameter of the D64 nanofibers (1147 nm) compared to the gelatin nanofibers (560 nm). FTIR analysis suggested the hydrogen bonding between gelatin and GML microemulsions. The thermal analysis and XRD results indicated the amorphous structure of gelatin/GML microemulsion nanofibers, even though a small amount of GML crystalline exists. The nanofibers with GML microemulsions showed higher thermal stability and facilitated the gelatin degradation upon heating. The gelatin/GML microemulsion nanofibrous films showed super-hydrophilicity and fast dissolution properties, which was due to the high surface to volume ratio property, the amorphous structure, and the improved surface hydrophilicity of nanofiber surface. The nanofiber with 5% (weight ratio respect to nanofiber) GML (D64) showed effective antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. aureus, which has potential application as edible antimicrobial food package.

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Xinyan Zhang

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