Starch aerogel enables efficient and prolonged fragrance delivery

The use of sustained-release carriers to encapsulate fragrances effectively mitigates their high volatility and chemical instability. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of employing biomass-derived starch aerogels (SA) as a novel sustained-release carrier for fragrances. First, SA with a porosity of 85.33% and a specific surface area of 229.89 m²/g were prepared using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO 2 ) drying. Further, linalool, geraniol, linalyl acetate, citral, and limonene were incorporated into the SA by scCO 2 impregnation, with adsorption amounts reaching 168.40 to 336.00 mg/g. Moreover, fragrances with higher polarity and lower steric hindrance achieve higher loading efficiency in SA. Temperature-controlled release experiments indicate that SA exhibits prominent sustained release effect on fragrances. Especially for polar fragrances, free fragrances are completely released within 5 min at 60 °C, In contrast, after loading into SA, the release duration of polar fragrances is prolonged to 40–60 min. This study provides a theoretical foundation and technical support for the development of high-loading, eco-friendly fragrance delivery systems with sustained-release functionality.