To fully leverage the natural antioxidant properties of carvacrol (CAR) and achieve sustained release for enhanced bioactivity, core-shell structured CAR loaded nanofiber membranes were fabricated via coaxial electrospinning, with gelatin (GEL) encapsulated CAR as the core layer and degradable polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the shell. The shell-to-core flow rate ratio served as a crucial regulatory parameter to tailor the fiber microstructure and macroscopic performance. Excessively high flow rates induced fiber adhesion and structural defects, while the optimized PVA-8 exhibited uniform fiber morphology and a well-defined core-shell structure. Most importantly, the chemical structural integrity of CAR, GEL, and PVA within the core-shell nanofibers after electrospinning was confirmed using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Variation in the shell-to-core flow rate ratio effectively regulated the thermal stability and antioxidant capacity of nanofiber membranes. A higher PVA shell proportion improved thermal stability but slightly reduced the relative CAR content and antioxidant activity of the membranes. Release kinetics fitting based on the Ritger–Peppas model revealed that all nanofiber samples followed a typical Fickian diffusion mechanism for CAR release. Benefiting from its intact core-shell structure and stable component properties, PVA-8 achieved the optimal sustained CAR release behavior. This work demonstrates that the rationally designed coaxial electrospun nanofibers integrate superior chemical stability and controllable active ingredient release behavior, which provides a feasible and reliable strategy for the fabrication of high-stability multifunctional active packaging materials.
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