image: This is an egg-based tough gel. view more
Credit: Tatsuya Nojima
Protein-based functional materials are an important topic in recent materials science. The heat-induced gelation property of egg white is common knowledge. However, because gelled egg white is brittle caused by the inhomogeneous network structure of denatured proteins, it is not a practical material. The fluid material containing orderly condensed egg white proteins at regular intervals was produced by the mixing of both anionic and cationic surfactant to unpurified egg white proteins. This egg white-based material was gelled by heating and showed high mechanical properties. The maximum compressive fracture strength was <150-fold higher than that of usual boiled egg white.
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Journal
NPG Asia Materials