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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2013 Publication Date: 9/12/2013 Citation: Kenar, J.A., Eller, F.J., Fanta, G.F., Jackson, M.A., Felker, F.C. 2013. Starch-based aerogels: airy materials from amylose-sodium palmitate inclusion complexes [abstract]. American Chemical Society. Paper No. Tech-75. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Aerogels are a class of interesting low density porous materials prepared by replacing the water phase contained within a hydrogel with a gas phase while maintaining the three dimensional network structure of the gel. The investigation of starch and hydrocolloid-based aerogels has received attention since they are based on renewable materials and also possess good surface area, porosity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. These characteristics make them of interest for a variety of applications such as catalyst supports, carriers for controlled release of bioactive and agrochemical materials, adsorbents, and scaffolding for tissue engineering applications. We have recently reported the preparation and properties of amylose-fatty acid salt helical inclusion complexes prepared from amylose-containing starches and sodium palmitate. These complexes are simply prepared on large scale using commercially available steam jet cookers. The physical interaction between the sodium palmitate and the amylose component of the starch confer unique polyelectrolytic, water dispersiblity, pH responsiveness, and gelling characteristics to the bulk material not available to either the native starch or fatty acid salt alone. In this study, the gelling properties of aqueous high amylose starch sodium palmitate inclusion complex solutions were utilized to construct novel starch-based aerogel beads with high surface areas. The areogels were prepared by curing the resulting beads in 0.02 M HCl bath, exchanging the water in the hydrogel beads with ethanol, and subsequently drying the alcogels with supercritical CO2. The gelation and process parameters were investigated in order to optimize the structural properties of the resulting aerogels. Aerogel beads (3.5-5.5 mm) were produced with BET surface areas up to 360 m^2^g^-1^. The characterization of the aerogel beads using X-ray diffraction scattering, SEM, light microscopy, and surface areas analyses will be discussed. |
