Towards Enhanced Electrospinning of Alginate-Can Recent Strategies Overcome Limitations? A Review

Abstract

Electrospun alginate nanofibers are emerging as versatile materials for biomedical, environmental, and packaging applications due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and functional tunability. However, the direct electrospinning of alginate remains a significant challenge, mainly due to its polyelectrolytic nature, rigid chain structure, and limited chain entanglement. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of recent strategies developed to overcome these limitations, including polymer blending, chemical modification, the addition of surfactants, multi-fluid techniques, and process optimization. We systematically discuss the integration of nanofibers with functional agents such as microorganisms, bioactive compounds, plant extracts, and nanoparticles, highlighting their potential in wound healing, active packaging, bioremediation, and controlled release systems. This review also examines the scalability of alginate electrospinning, summarizing recent patents, industrial solutions, and challenges related to the standardization of the process. Key knowledge gaps are identified, including the need for long-term stability studies, structure-function correlations, green processing approaches, and expansion into novel application domains beyond healthcare. Addressing these research directions will be crucial to unlocking the full potential of alginate nanofibers as sustainable, high-performance materials for industrial use.

Keywords: alginate; biopolymers; electrospinning; functionalization; nanofibers.

Figure 1

Overall concept of review. Created in Biorender.com, Zwolińska, J. (2025) https://BioRender.com/4280yjf, accessed on 14 August 2025.

Figure 2

Web of Science database search result (accessed 17 February 2025), keywords “electrospinning”, “alginate” “electrospinning AND alginate”, and “electrospinning AND biopolymer” searched in abstract, title, and keywords.

Figure 3

Variations overview of electrospinning models of polymeric fibers. Reproduced from ref. [17] copyright©2024; ref. [18] copyright©2020; ref. [19] copyright©2017; ref. [20] copyright © 2025 Elsevier. Created in Biorender.com. Witek-Krowiak, A. (2025) https://BioRender.com/74zd2vk, accessed on 14 August 2025.

Figure 4

Alginate sources and molecular structure. Created in Biorender.com. Witek-Krowiak, A. (2025) https://BioRender.com/du2gwcm, accessed on 14 August 2025.

Figure 5

The number of patent applications related to alginate electrospinning based on the Espacenet data base (ti = “alginate” AND (nftxt = “electrospinning” OR nftxt = “electrospun”); (A): number of patents by year; (B): patent applications by country.