Aerogels, porous materials with low density, from cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and soy proteins (SPs) were produced by freeze casting, optimizing the production procedure to reduce defect formation in systems with relatively large sizes. The aerogels were characterized by compression tests, morphology analysis, density measurements, surface area, moisture sorption from air and liquid sorption. It was found that as the SP loading is increased, the morphology of the obtained aerogels transitions from fibrillar to interconnected leaf-like elements. They maintain a high compression modulus of 4.4 MPa even at SP loadings as high as ca. 70% and absorb 4-5% w/w of moisture from air with 50% RH. The physical integrity of the aerogels was maintained upon water and hexane immersion. The liquid sorption rate was fast for hydrophobic solvents in all cases and it was modulated by the chemical composition in water sorption experiments, which generated swelling of the solid material.

Synthesis and characterization of soy protein-nanocellulose composite aerogels

245th National Meeting (2013)

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