Chitin is nontoxic, biocompatible and biodegradable, making it a promising candidate to produce biobased materials, especially for foodstuff. Among the various applications of chitin, colloidal chitin nanofibers (nanochitin, NCh), which are produced by deacetylation and mechanical treatment, have been used as Pickering stabilizers. Here, we introduce bio-colloidal NCh as a stabilizer of high-internal-phase Pickering emulsions (HIPPEs). Oil-in-water HIPPEs comprising a volume fraction of the dispersed phase (edible oil) as high as 88% are produced, the highest value achieved so far for edible oil in food-grade systems. The mechanism of stabilization with nanochitin involves: 1) structuring the continuous phase to form a highly interconnected fibrous network surrounding the oil droplets, which prevents flocculation and, 2) irreversible adsorption of nanochitin at the oil/water interfaces, inhibiting coarsening and breakage of oil droplets. The processability of HIPPEs for multiple applications is demonstrated for their moldability, and to facilitate changes in the composition of the internal phase. A substitute for food products such as margarine and a 3D-printed, edible foodstuff are achieved with HIPPEs containing 88 vol% edible oil. Highly porous, light-weight, solid foams bearing tunable internal structures are obtained by formulating HIPPEs using a sacrificial oil with a high vapor pressure. Overall, an alternative green HIPPE synthesis is proposed as a route to engineer functional materials.

High internal phase oil-in-water Pickering emulsions stabilized with nanochitin and potential applications

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.