The Effect of Electrolytes and Urea on the Ethyl Lauroyl Arginate and Cellulose Nanocrystals Foam Stability

Carboxylated cellulose nanocrystals (cCNC) are highly dispersible particles useful in many industries. In particular, they can be applied to form Pickering emulsions and foams for “green” applications in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical industry or food processing. We demonstrated that carboxylated cellulose nanocrystals enhance foamability and foam stability when mixed with cationic surfactant ethyl lauroyl arginate (LAE), having superior properties over sulfated cellulose nanocrystals (sCNC) concerning surfactant concentration range and foam volume. Mixtures of LAE and cCNC were characterized for their hydrodynamic diameter, zeta potential, surface tension and surface rheological properties. The influence of electrolytes, namely, sodium chloride, guanidine hydrochloride and sodium salicylate, and the addition of concentrated urea to LAE-cCNC mixtures on foamability and foam stability were investigated. Electrolytes in the concentration of 5 mM showed a moderate effect on foam stability. In contrast, spectacular foam collapse was detected after adding concentrated urea. The preliminary rheological data from the pendant drop oscillations revealed low elastic modulus upon urea addition and the loss modulus that increased with the frequency, which suggested a viscous interfacial layer.