Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Food Active Substances, College of Food Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2023;63(24):6687-6709. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2037504. Epub 2022 Feb 14.
Traditional inorganic aerogels sustainability, biodegradability, and environmental safety concerns have driven researchers to find their safe green alternatives. Recently, interest in the application of bio-aerogels has rapidly increased in the food industry due to their unique characteristics such as high specific surface area and porosity, ultralow density, tunable pore size and morphology, and superior properties (physicochemical, mechanical, and functional). Bio-aerogels, a special category of highly porous unique materials, fabricated by the method followed by drying processes, comprising three-dimensional networks of interconnected biopolymers (e.g., polysaccharides and proteins) with numerous air-filled pores. The production of bio-aerogels begins with the formation of a homogeneously dispersed precursor solution, followed by gelation and wet gel drying procedures by employing special drying techniques including atmospheric-, freeze-, and supercritical drying. Due to their special properties, bio-aerogels have emerged as sustainable biomaterial for many industrial applications, i.e., encapsulation and controlled delivery, active packaging, heavy metals separation, water and air filtration, oleogels, and biosensors. Bio-aerogels are low-cost, biocompatible, and biodegradable sustainable material that can be used in improving the processing, storage, transportation, and bioavailability of food additives, functional ingredients, and bioactive substances for their health benefits with enhanced shelf-life.
传统的无机气凝胶在可持续性、生物降解性和环境安全性方面存在问题，这促使研究人员寻找安全的绿色替代品。由于具有比表面积和孔隙率高、超低密度、可调孔径和形态以及优越性能（物理化学、机械和功能）等独特特性，生物气凝胶在食品工业中的应用受到了广泛关注。生物气凝胶是一种特殊的高多孔独特材料，通过特定的方法制备，然后进行干燥处理，由相互连接的生物聚合物（如多糖和蛋白质）的三维网络组成，具有许多充满空气的孔。生物气凝胶的生产始于形成均匀分散的前驱体溶液，然后通过凝胶化和湿凝胶干燥程序，采用特殊的干燥技术，包括常压、冷冻和超临界干燥。由于其特殊的性质，生物气凝胶已成为许多工业应用的可持续生物材料，例如封装和控制释放、活性包装、重金属分离、水和空气过滤、油凝胶和生物传感器。生物气凝胶是一种低成本、生物相容和可生物降解的可持续材料，可用于改善食品添加剂、功能性成分和生物活性物质的加工、储存、运输和生物利用度，以延长其保质期，从而带来健康益处。
