{"title":"Advancing Gel Systems with Natural Extracts: Antioxidant, Antimicrobial Applications, and Sustainable Innovations.","authors":"Arthitaya Kawee-Ai","doi":"10.3390/gels11020125","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The integration of natural extracts into gel systems has emerged as a transformative approach to enhance functional properties, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, and therapeutic effects. This review underscores the remarkable potential of natural extract-enriched gels, which effectively combine sustainability with improved functionality. These bioactive compounds, sourced from plants and animals, encompass polyphenols, flavonoids, essential oils, chitosan, proteins, and polysaccharides. They provide an eco-friendly alternative to synthetic additives and find applications across various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food packaging. Despite their promise, challenges remain, such as the variability in natural extract composition, the stability of bioactive compounds, and scalability for industrial use. To address these issues, innovative strategies like nanoencapsulation, responsive hydrogels, and AI-driven optimization have demonstrated significant progress. Additionally, emerging technologies, such as 3D printing and adherence to circular economy principles, further enhance the versatility, efficiency, and sustainability of these systems. By integrating these advanced tools and methodologies, gel systems enriched with natural extracts are well-positioned to meet contemporary consumer and industrial demands for multifunctional and eco-friendly products. These innovations not only improve performance but also align with global sustainability goals, setting the stage for widespread adoption and continued development in various fields.</p>","PeriodicalId":12506,"journal":{"name":"Gels","volume":"11 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11855317/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Gels","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/gels11020125","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"POLYMER SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The integration of natural extracts into gel systems has emerged as a transformative approach to enhance functional properties, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, and therapeutic effects. This review underscores the remarkable potential of natural extract-enriched gels, which effectively combine sustainability with improved functionality. These bioactive compounds, sourced from plants and animals, encompass polyphenols, flavonoids, essential oils, chitosan, proteins, and polysaccharides. They provide an eco-friendly alternative to synthetic additives and find applications across various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food packaging. Despite their promise, challenges remain, such as the variability in natural extract composition, the stability of bioactive compounds, and scalability for industrial use. To address these issues, innovative strategies like nanoencapsulation, responsive hydrogels, and AI-driven optimization have demonstrated significant progress. Additionally, emerging technologies, such as 3D printing and adherence to circular economy principles, further enhance the versatility, efficiency, and sustainability of these systems. By integrating these advanced tools and methodologies, gel systems enriched with natural extracts are well-positioned to meet contemporary consumer and industrial demands for multifunctional and eco-friendly products. These innovations not only improve performance but also align with global sustainability goals, setting the stage for widespread adoption and continued development in various fields.
期刊介绍：
The journal Gels (ISSN 2310-2861) is an international, open access journal on physical (supramolecular) and chemical gel-based materials. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible. Therefore, there is no restriction on the maximum length of the papers, and full experimental details must be provided so that the results can be reproduced. Short communications, full research papers and review papers are accepted formats for the preparation of the manuscripts.
Gels aims to serve as a reference journal with a focus on gel materials for researchers working in both academia and industry. Therefore, papers demonstrating practical applications of these materials are particularly welcome. Occasionally, invited contributions (i.e., original research and review articles) on emerging issues and high-tech applications of gels are published as special issues.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
