Pickering stabilization of foams and emulsions with particles of biological origin

The focus in the study of Pickering foams and emulsions has recently been shifting from using inorganic particles to adopting particles of biological origin for stabilization. This shift is motivated by the incompatibility of some inorganic particles for food and biomedical applications, as well as their poor sustainability. This review focuses on major developments in foams and emulsions stabilized by particles of biological origin from the last 5 years. Recent reports in the literature have demonstrated the ability of particles derived from cellulose, lignin, chitin, starch, proteins (soy, zein, ferritin), as well as hydrophobic cells to stabilize biphasic dispersions. We review the use of such nano- and micron-sized particles of biological origin for the stabilization of foams and emulsions, summarize the current knowledge of how such particles stabilize these dispersions, provide an outlook for future work to improve our understanding of bio-derived particle-stabilized foams and emulsions, and touch upon how these systems can be used to create novel materials. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.