THESIS - ROC CH ... - FINAL - resubmission.pdf - University of Guelph

SMF micrographs, the presence of fiber structures were not observed. This concurs with the
speculation that aggregation of smaller sized fibers could result with a fabric-like appearance
after freeze drying. The absence of micro-sized structures is expected as the gelled SNF
obtained was homogenous and highly translucent.
a b
Figure 5.5: a) SEM and b) TEM micrographs of soy nanofibers released after acid hydrolysis. SEM
micrograph was obtained from freeze dried fiber suspension.
With respect to the TEM micrographs, the presence of nano-sized fibers was clearly
observed. The web-like network seen may explain the gelling behaviour of the SNF’s observed
macroscopically. The homogeneous concentration of nano-sized fibers explains the transparent
gel observed. The size distribution as displayed in Figure 5.6 ranged from 6 to 35 nm placing
them well within the particle types of NFC (4-20 nm) to MFC (10-100 nm) as categorized by
Moon et al. 2011. The average diameter of the SNF’s was found to be 16.0 nm. The length of
the fibers was not determined due to the overlapping nature of the fibers which made it difficult
to quantify. However, the evidence of the gelling behaviour indicates that the aspect ratio should
be high or gelation should not occur.
57
500nm