Hybrid electrospinning of pullulan and citrus pectin to load astaxanthin: Preparation, characterization, and functional evaluation

Pullulan (PUL) is a widely used agent for electrospinning. However, nanofibers electrospun solely from PUL exhibit a highly hydrophilic nature and a bead-like structure. In this study, 1-5 wt% citrus pectin (CP) was introduced to construct a hybrid electrospinning system to investigate the effects of CP concentration on the properties of the electrospun nanofibers. The results reveal that the bead-like structure, rigidity, and hydrophobicity of the nanofibers underwent significant improvements following the introduction of CP. Furthermore, to demonstrate the protective effect of the nanofiber on astaxanthin, 0.1 wt% astaxanthin was encapsulated in the hybrid electrospinning system containing 5 wt% CP. The results show that after encapsulating astaxanthin, the rigidity of the nanofiber further increased, with a tensile strength of 12.5 MPa and a break elongation of 2.9 %. Additionally, the nanofiber system demonstrates excellent protection of the antioxidant activity of astaxanthin under UV exposure compared to free astaxanthin.