Abstract
Abstract This study investigated the emulsifying properties of a protein–polysaccharide hybrid nanoconjugate system comprising cellulose nanocrystals (CNC, 1% w/v) and soy protein isolate at various concentrations (SPI, 1–3% w/v). The average particle size of the nanoconjugate increased, and the zeta potential decreased when 3% (w/v) of SPI was used. The contact angle and thermal stability of CNC improved with the conjugation of SPI. Upon Pickering emulsification, 0.5% (w/v) of CNC–SPI nanoconjugate as particle stabilizer was sufficient to obtain stable emulsions. The CNC–SPI1 formulation (CNC to SPI, 1:1) provided the emulsion with the smallest droplet size and higher emulsifying activity. Intriguingly, ultrasound (US) pre-treatment on nanoconjugates before emulsification significantly reduced the size of the emulsion. The rheological assessment demonstrated that the CNC–SPI-stabilized emulsions exhibit shear thinning behavior at a lower shear rate and shear thickening behavior at a higher shear rate, indicating the interruption of existing attractive interactions between the CNC particles. All emulsions exhibited higher elastic modulus (G′) than viscous modulus (G″), suggesting high viscoelastic properties of the emulsions. This study demonstrates that CNC–SPI nanoconjugate with optimum protein to polysaccharide ratio has great potential as a natural particle stabilizer in food and nutraceutical emulsion applications.
Highlights
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more immiscible liquids in a single system and is thermodynamicallyThis work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.01294 See Kiat Wong et al.unstable
This study investigated the stability and rheological properties of Pickering emulsion stabilized by cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)–soy protein isolate (SPI) nanoconjugates with different SPI contents
It was found that the interactions between CNC and SPI increased the particle size, reduced the surface charges, increased the surface hydrophobicity, and improved the thermal stability of the nanoconjugates compared to pristine CNC
Summary
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more immiscible liquids in a single system and is thermodynamicallyThis work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.01294 See Kiat Wong et al.unstable. Pickering emulsion is outstanding against coalescence due to forming a protective physical barrier via the irreversible adsorption of solid particles onto the interface of the immiscible liquids [4,5]. Various particulate emulsifiers, such as graphene, silica, polysaccharide, and protein, have been extensively studied to form Pickering emulsion over the past decades [6]. CNC with high hydrophilic properties often suffers from poor emulsification performance, dramatically limiting its practical applications [17] To overcome such issues, various topochemical surface modification approaches involving covalent chemistry and polymer coatings [18] have been applied to modify the surface characteristics of CNC to generate an effective Pickering emulsifier
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