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Abstract The present work aims to prepare and stabilize zein colloidal nanoparticles using soluble soybean polysaccharide (SSPS) as a stabilizer. A simple antisolvent precipitation method was used to fabricate the zein/SSPS composite nanoparticles at pH 4.0. The results showed that the SSPS-stabilized zein nanoparticles (size around 200 nm, PDI below 0.2) did not aggregate or precipitate at pH 2.0–8.0. And they were also relatively stable for elevated ionic strength and high temperature. Affected by the SSPS coating, the surface hydrophobicity of the zein nanoparticles decreased over a wide pH range. Conditions of forming zein/SSPS nanoparticles were successfully used to encapsulate hydrophobic quercetin (Q). The encapsulation efficiency was greatly improved to 82.5% after SSPS coating, compared to 59.2% for the zein without coating. Besides, the photochemical stability and ABTS+ scavenging ability of Q in zein/SSPS composite nanoparticles were significantly enhanced. This study demonstrates that these composite nanoparticles can be used as all-natural delivery systems for bioactive molecules in food and pharmaceutical formulations. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Zein nanoparticles were prepared using SSPS as a stabilizer. • SSPS could stabilize zein nanoparticles in pH range 2.0–8.0. • The "core-shell" structure formed between zein and SSPS. • Surface hydrophobicity of zein nanoparticles decreased due to the coating of SSPS. • Quercetin was efficiently encapsulated and protected by composite nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zein-based nanoparticles loaded with bioactive compounds have positive prospects in the food industry, but an important limiting factor for development is colloidal instability. Currently, extensive researches are focused on solving the instability of zein nanoparticles, but since the beginning of the studies, there has not been a summary of the factors affecting the stability of zein-based nanoparticles. In the present work, the factors were reviewed comprehensively from the perspective of carrier construction and application evaluation. The former mainly includes type, quantity, and characteristics of biopolymer, the mass ratio of biopolymer/bioactive compound to zein, blending sequence of biopolymer, and location of encapsulated bioactive compounds. The latter mainly includes pH, heating, ionic strength, storage, freeze-drying, and gastrointestinal digestion. The former is the prerequisite for the success of the latter. The challenge is that stability research is limited to the laboratory level, and it is difficult to ensure that the stability results are suitable for commercial food matrices due to their complexity. At the laboratory level, the future trends are the influence of external energy and the cross-complexity and uniformity of stability research. The review is expected to provide systematic understanding and guidance for the development of zein-based nanoparticles stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an excellent delivery material for bioactive compounds, zein nanoparticles are limited by colloidal instability. Recently, the development of their surface coating has greatly promoted the performance of the zein-based delivery system. In the future, surface-coated zein nanoparticles delivering bioactive compounds will have broader applications in the food industry. This review focuses on introducing different methods and materials of surface-coated zein nanoparticles and their encapsulated bioactive compounds, including the assessments for the improved application of these compounds. Additionally, the application in food-related fields is summarized. Finally, some challenges regarding the surface coating of zein nanoparticles and development trends are presented. Currently, methods for surface coating of zein nanoparticles include antisolvent precipitation, antisolvent co-precipitation, layer-by-layer, solvent evaporation, and pH-driven. The materials are mainly proteins, polysaccharides, surfactants, and their composites. It can not only deliver a single bioactive compound but also achieve co-delivery. The evaluation of the improved compound application includes physical and chemical stability, controlled release/bioaccessibility, and biological activity. Moreover, surface-coated zein nanoparticles can be applied to Pickering emulsions and edible films. There are also some challenges in surface coating development. The future will be to improve the application of zein carriers in commercial products, and laboratory-level researches including new system development, smart co-delivery design, and bioavailability mechanism. In conclusion, surface coating of zein nanoparticles have a bright prospect to improve the application of bioactive compounds in the food industry. • Methods of surface-coating are introduced like antisolvent precipitation. • Material of surface-coating are mainly proteins, polysaccharides, and surfactants. • Single and co-delivery of bioactive compounds were discussed. • The application of surface-coated zein nanoparticles in food field was reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to explore the application of propylene glycol alginate (PGA) alone in alcohol-free curcumin-loaded nanoparticles (PGA/Cur) prepared by a pH-driven method to solve the curcumin shortcomings of low water solubility, stability and bioavailability. One of the bright spots of PGA/Cur was its extremely high loading capacity. PGA/Cur formed a spherical structure mainly by hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bonding, making curcumin amorphous. PGA/Cur exhibited stability at pH 4.0–8.0 due to its high surface charges. PGA/Cur still showed a unimodal size distribution even under 3000 mM ionic strength. Heating caused uneven size distribution, but the smaller size still presented its thermostability. PGA/Cur exhibited good physical stability and slowed down the curcumin degradation with t 1/2 of 37.47 days during storage. PGA/Cur could maintain structural integrity in gastric acid and released curcumin in the intestine, thus improving the bioaccessibility of curcumin. Additionally, PGA/Cur displayed the solubilization after lyophilization. • Propylene glycol alginate alone can form nanoparticles by pH-driven method. • The perspective of carrier design is economy, simplicity, energy saving and safety. • The unique advantage of nanoparticles is high loading capacity. • The nanoparticles had good physicochemical stability and bioaccessibility. • The nanoparticles showed solubilization of curcumin after lyophilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A composite containing self-assembled MoO 2 nanoparticles and functional carbon nanosheets was obtained via a facile and controllable strategy. Two-dimensional functional carbon nanosheets as matrices have close contact with MoO 2 nanoparticles, which assists in the improvement of electronic conductivity, provides efficient pathways and accelerates electron transfer. The carbon nanosheets have functional groups on the surface, which could serve as the nucleation sites for MoO 2. The MC-0.12 composite shows optimal specific capacitance (190.9 F g-1 at 1 A g-1) and excellent cycle stability between monomers and composites with different constituents. The assembled symmetrical coin cell supercapacitor using MC-0.12 possesses the maximum energy density of 10.3 Wh kg-1 at a power density of 378 W kg-1 and still maintains the energy density of 7.9 Wh kg-1 at 1682 W kg-1 with a larger potential window. The capacitance retention (92%) of the assembled device is maintained after 2000 cycles, showing outstanding cycle life. Therefore, the integration of self-assembled MoO 2 nanoparticles with 2D functional carbon nanosheets provides the composite superior electrochemical performance for supercapacitor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Zein nanoparticles were fabricated using dextran sulphate as a stabilizer. • Dextran sulphate could stabilize zein nanoparticles over a wide pH range of 2.0–9.0. • The addition of dextran sulphate led to the change in secondary structure of zein. • Zein/dextran sulphate nanoparticles were essentially nontoxic to NCM460 cells. • Curcumin was encapsulated by zein/dextran sulphate composite nanoparticles. Zein nanoparticles (ZNPs) have limited use as a result of its poor colloidal stability. The goal of this paper is to stabilize ZNPs using a sulfated anionic polysaccharide—dextran sulfate (DS). Zein/DS composite nanoparticles (ZDSNPs) were fabricated by antisolvent precipitation method at pH 4.0 with an optimal zein-to-DS ratio of 1:2 (w/w). ZDSNPs exhibited good stability to pH, heating and storage. Additionally, ZDSNPs showed spherical structures formed primarily by electrostatic attractions, hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions. The incorporation of DS led to the change in secondary structure of zein. The surface hydrophobicity of ZNPs reduced owing to the deposition of DS. And ZDSNPs were basically nontoxic to normal colonic epithelial cell lines—NCM460 cell lines. ZDSNPs were successfully used to encapsulate curcumin. The encapsulation efficiency of curcumin-loaded ZDSNPs (ZDSCNPs) was 85.37%, which was significantly higher than that of curcumin-loaded ZNPs. In addition, ZDSCNPs exhibited improved storage stability and bioaccessibility of curcumin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work is to stabilize zein nanoparticles with anionic polysaccharides—chondroitin sulfate (CS) to overcome the poor colloidal stability of zein nanoparticles. The average molecular weight of CS was 20.51 kDa and the disaccharide composition of CS was 70.71% monosulfated disaccharide Di2S and 29.29% disulfated disaccharide Di2,6 diS. Zein/CS composite nanoparticles were fabricated by antisolvent precipitation method at pH 4.0. The optimal mass ratio of zein to CS was 1:1 (w/w). Zein/CS composite nanoparticles showed mean size of 148 nm and PDI < 0.2, maintaining great stability at pH 3.0 to 8.0. Meanwhile, these prepared nanoparticles were also stable to heat treatment and was stable to a range of ionic strength of 0–15 mM at pH 4.0 and 0–10 mM at pH 7.0. The composite nanoparticles exhibited regular spherical structures, and CS was deposited on the surface of zein mainly by electrostatic interactions. In the process, the addition of urea and sodium dodecyl sulfate indicated that it also involved both hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions. In addition, cytotoxicity assay on human renal epithelial cells—293 cells indicated that zein/CS composite nanoparticles were essentially nontoxic. • Zein nanoparticles were fabricated using chondroitin sulfate as a stabilizer. • Chondroitin sulfate could stabilize zein nanoparticles at pH 3.0–8.0. • Zein and chondroitin sulfate might form core-shell structure mainly by electrostatic interactions. • Zein/chondroitin sulfate nanoparticles were essentially nontoxic to human renal epithelial cells—293 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, caseinate-stabilized zein particles (zein-Cas) were developed at neutral pH to encapsulate fucoxanthin (FX) using a simple antisolvent precipitation method. Fluorescence results indicated that zein or Cas interact with fucoxanthin by hydrophobic contacts with a binding constant magnitude of 10 5  M −1 . The presence of proteins resulted in altering the FX precipitates from irregular shape to spherical shape at higher zein proportions, as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. The average particle size of FX-loaded zein-Cas particles was below 150 nm (100 to 130 nm) with negative surface charge (−30 to −35 mV). The encapsulated FX showed higher stability, antioxidant activity and antiproliferative activity than free FX. Besides, the bioaccessibility of encapsulated FX was appreciably higher than it was not encapsulated. These results demonstrated that FX-loaded zein-Cas nanoparticles could enable the application of FX in functional foods and beverages, as well as in pharmaceutical products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sb2WO6/TiO2 composites with different contents of Sb2WO6 were successfully synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method. The Sb2WO6/TiO2 composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS), photoluminescence spectra (PL), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Sb2WO6 nanoparticles are distributed uniformly on the surface of TiO2 nanobelts in the prepared Sb2WO6/TiO2 composites. The effect of Sb2WO6 content on the photocatalytic activity of composites is studied by UV-vis DRS and PL. All Sb2WO6/TiO2 photocatalysts show enhanced photocatalytic activity and excellent recycling property for degrading rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation. The 30% Sb2WO6/TiO2 sample shows the best photocatalytic activity. Its kinetic constant (0·476/h) is 21·6 times higher than that of TiO2. The possible photocatalytic mechanism is discussed according to the trapping experiments of active species. The improved photocatalytic activity for the Sb2WO6/TiO2 catalyst may be attributed to the synergetic effect between Sb2WO6 nanoparticles and TiO2 nanobelts. The enhanced photocatalytic activity and excellent stability make this material a promising candidate for degrading environmental pollutants in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the work was to explore the possibility of encapsulation and delivery of curcumin using cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) as a single wall material by the pH-driven method to solve the curcumin challenges of instability, low water solubility, and poor bioaccessibility. Curcumin-loaded CNC nanoparticles (CNC/Cur) were produced, showing the particle size of less than 100 nm, polydispersity index of less than 0.3, and high negative zeta-potential. CNC/Cur exhibited a high encapsulation efficiency of more than 90% even at the lowest mass proportion of CNC-to-Cur of 1:5. Compared with other reported carriers carrying curcumin, the high loading capacity was a highlight of CNC/Cur. CNC/Cur with the mass proportion of CNC-to-Cur of 1:1 exhibited the lowest particle size, presenting sphere, which is accompanied by free CNC between CNC/Cur. The formation of CNC/Cur was mainly driven by hydrophobic interaction, followed by hydrogen bonding, and it converted the crystal forms of both curcumin and CNC into amorphous. It could be stable at pH 3.0–8.0, which is attributed to its strong electrostatic repulsions. And it exhibited stability during storage at 25 °C for four weeks and effectively slowed the degradation of curcumin. Additionally, the bioaccessibility of curcumin was improved by CNC/Cur. • The perspective of carrier design was economy, simplicity, energy saving and safety. • Cellulose nanocrystals alone could form nanoparticles by a pH-driven method. • The unique advantage of the nanoparticles was high loading capacity of curcumin. • The nanoparticles exhibited pH stability and physicochemical stability of storage. • The bioaccessibility of curcumin was improved by the nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• pH-driven zein/tea saponin composite nanoparticles were first prepared. • The system had properties of alcohol-free, low-energy and high loading capacity. • The fabricated nanoparticles had good physicochemical stability and redispersibility. • The solubility of curcumin increased by about 290 times for powder nanoparticles. • The designed nanoparticles increased bioaccessibility of curcumin by about 5 times. The purpose of this paper was to overcome the challenges of curcumin by zein/tea saponin composite nanoparticles (Z/TSNPs) without any organic reagents and high-energy equipment. The spherical Z/TSNPs exhibited good physical stability, the conditions of which included pH at 5.0–8.0, heating at 80 ℃, ionic strength within 100 mM, and storage at 25 ℃ for 30 days. Meanwhile, Z/TSNPs showed excellent redispersibility. Z/TSNPs were used to encapsulate and deliver curcumin (Cur-Z/TSNPs), showing encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity of 83.73% and 22.33%, respectively. Cur-Z/TSNPs exhibited good chemical stability during storage, and the effect of light on Cur-Z/TSNPs was smaller than that of free curcumin. Furthermore, Cur-Z/TSNPs improved the solubilization and bioaccessibility of curcumin about 290 and 5 times, respectively. Besides, the encapsulation changed the crystalline state of curcumin to amorphous, and the pH-driven mechanism was probably related to hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The curcumin (Cur) loaded ternary self-assembly composite nanoparticles consisting of zein, chondroitin sulfate (CS) and sophorolipid (Spl) were designed successfully with zein-to-Spl mass ratio of 1:1 (Cur-Z/CS/SplNPs 1:1), showing nano-spherical structure with high ζ-potential and encapsulation efficiency. The encapsulation process converted Cur from crystal to amorphous nature, involving electrostatic force, hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bonding. Spl improved the resistance of zein to degeneration with or without Cur and CS. Cur-Z/CS/SplNPs 1:1 showed stability at pH > 4.0 and the better thermostability (80 °C) at a faster rate. Additionally, Cur showed the best chemical stability in Cur-Z/CS/SplNPs 1:1 under the condition of 4 °C in the dark with half-life of 58.74. And Cur-Z/CS/SplNPs 1:1 enhanced the aqueous solubility of Cur about 160 times higher than that of free Cur in powder state. Furthermore, Cur-Z/CS/SplNPs 1:1 exhibited the biocompatibility, bioaccessibility (68.06%) and anticancer activity against HepG2, MCF-7 and HeLa cells. This study provides new insights into the application of Spl in protein/polysaccharide delivery systems in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Image 1 • Sophorolipid was used in protein/polysaccharide composite nanoparticles firstly. • The solubility of curcumin increased by about 160 times for powder nanoparticles. • The designed ternary self-assembly nanoparticles showed biocompatibility. • Sophorolipid improved the anticancer activity against HepG2, MCF-7 and HeLa cells. • Sophorolipid enhanced the bioaccessibility of curcumin to 68.06%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, zein/soluble soybean polysaccharide (SSPS) composite nanoparticles were fabricated using a facile antisolvent precipitation method to encapsulate lutein. The ternary system can self-assemble to spherical nanoparticles (about 200 nm) with relatively uniform size (PDI around 0.15) and negative charge (about −33.56 mV). For the 25:1 mass ratio of zein to lutein, the encapsulation efficiency was higher than 80%. Notably, the encapsulation was dominated by zein which could bind lutein and form zein-lutein complexes spontaneously in aqueous ethanol. The aqueous solubility and chemical stability of lutein were both enhanced greatly upon encapsulation. The composite nanoparticles also showed exceptional pH stability and elevated salt stability. Cytotoxicity assay indicated thee nanocarriers are non-toxic and biocompatible. The bioaccessibility of encapsulated lutein (32.11%) was greatly higher than that of non-encapsulated lutein (16.21%). These results suggested that zein/SSPS composite nanoparticles may be a promising delivery system for lutein, which could be used as an ingredient for the formulation of beverages or functional foods. Image 1 • Zein-based nanoparticles can effectively encapsulate and protect lutein. • Colloidal stability was improved by soluble soybean polysaccharide coating. • Lutein-loaded composite nanoparticles are nontoxic and biocompatible. • In vitro bioaccessibility of lutein was enhanced significantly with encapsulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]