Chitosan functionalized cellulose nanocrystals for stabilizing Pickering emulsion: Fabrication, characterization and stability evaluation

In this study, cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)/chitosan (CS)/glutaraldehyde (Glu) ternary composites were synthesized using cross-linking method with different CNC/CS ratios (1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, w/w). The composites were firstly characterized using various techniques, such as SEM, FT-IR, isothermal nitrogen adsorption/desorption and TGA. They were further used as solid stabilizers for the preparation of O/W Pickering emulsions. The appearance of emulsions, size and zeta potential and rheological properties of the droplets were investigated. The results showed that the cross-linked biopolymer composites had high surface area, variable morphology and special three-dimensional networks, and showed good emulsifying capacity. Furthermore, the droplet size and zeta potential of emulsions as functions of pH (2–12), temperature (4–60 °C) and ion strength (0–1000 mM) were studied, and the results confirmed that the emulsions prepared with CNC/CS composites had good physical stability at different varying conditions. This study suggested that CNC/CS composites could significantly improve the emulsifying capacity and therefore had great potential for application in the pharmaceutical and food sciences.