Chitosan/PCL nanofibrous films developed by SBS to encapsulate thymol/HPβCD inclusion complexes for fruit packaging.

In this work, the solution blow spinning (SBS) technique was used to rapidly fabricate the thymol (THY)/2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) inclusion complexes loaded chitosan (CS)/polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous films for fruit preservation and packaging. XRD results indicated that the THY/HPβCD inclusion complexes were successfully incorporated into the CS/PCL nanofibers. The nanofibrous films had an increase of average diameters of nanofibers from 243.84 nm to 560.55 nm, an enhancement of water vapor permeability, a decrease of the crystallinity, and a hydrophilic surface after the incorporation. FTIR and thermal analysis showed that the thermal stability was also improved due to the formation of hydrogen bonds between THY/HPβCD inclusion complexes and CS/PCL nanofibers. The developed films obtained a long-term continuous release of THY during 240 h, and had a good antifungal activity in vitro and in vivo. The above results indicated the promising prospects of SBS in developing antifungal nanofibrous films for postharvest fruit.