Influence of xanthan gum and guar gum on the gelation and structural properties of carboxylated cellulose nanofibers-based emulsion gels

This study investigated the use of carboxylated cellulose nanofibers (CCNF) as stabilizers, for fabricating emulsion gels and the effects of adding hydrophilic colloids (xanthan gum, XG and guar gum, GG) on the properties of the CCNF emulsion. XG and GG are anionic and neutral polysaccharides, respectively. As anionic cellulose derivatives, CCNF has a synergistic effect with XG through electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding, whereas interactions with GG are formed mainly through hydrogen bonding and physical entanglement. These two different molecular interaction mechanisms result in a composite emulsion gel system with a stable three-dimensional network structure. Results indicated that the addition of XG/GG significantly enhanced the storage modulus (G′) and loss modulus (G″), and improved the gel strength, hardness and fracture elongation. The emulsion gels exhibited markedly improved water-holding capacity (WHC) and freeze-thaw (F-T) stability, and the WHC after freezing and thawing increased to 78 %–97 % with the addition of XG and GG at various concentrations. These findings demonstrated the promising potential of CCNF-stabilized emulsion gels incorporating XG and GG and provide a basis for expanding the use of CCNF emulsion gels.