Chemical-mechanical treatment of potato starch for isolation of nanocrystal particles

Abstract

Starch nanocrystals were isolated by a combination of acid hydrolysis and sonication of native potato starch. The obtained samples were examined by XRD, scanning electron microscopy and static light scattering. An increase in hydrolysis time increases the degree of crystallinity from 47 to 66%. By changing the processing conditions, it is possible to isolate particles of a given size. First, submicron flat particles with dimensions of 3000–5000 nm and a thickness of 80–100 nm are obtained. With longer processing, approximately isometric nanoscale particles remain. Based on the obtained data, a stepwise topochemical mechanism for the formation of starch nanoparticles was proposed.