Enzymatically produced nanocellulose as emulsifier for Pickering emulsion

Abstract

With the increasing demand for label-friendly emulsion products, chemical treatments and the addition of non-natural ingredients are inadvisable in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical sectors. The current research proposed a green development strategy from nanocellulose production to emulsion preparation, i.e., enzymatically prepared nanocellulose (ENC) for stabilizing O/W Pickering emulsions. Benefiting from a mild enzymatic reaction, ENC inherently had low Zeta potential and oil/water interfacial tension, facilitating the formation of stable Pickering emulsions. Biphasic fluorescence staining, emulsion polymerization, and rheology were employed to investigate the emulsification characteristics of ENC, establishing the interfacial adsorption behavior and concentration-dependent phase behavior of ENC-stabilized Pickering emulsions. Importantly, due to strong particle-particle and interface-particle interactions dominated by van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding, ENC-stabilized Pickering emulsions exhibited excellent stability under different temperatures, pH values, NaCl concentrations, and centrifugation. This work provides a green pathway for the development of nanocellulose-based Pickering emulsions.