Natural nano-fish bone as novel Pickering stabilizers: The emulsifying property

• The Pickering emulsions stabilized by NFB were typical pseudoplastic fluids with the phenomenon of “shear thinning”. • The stability of the Pickering emulsions was significantly improved with increasing NFB from 0.5% to 5%. • Increasing NFB improved the emulsion droplet coverage, and increases the droplet contact area, thereby inhibiting the emulsion instability caused by droplet aggregation. • The PO droplets played the role of “active fillers” inside the emulsions, thus forming a more compact network structure and facilitating the emulsion stability. Particles in the micrometer or nanometer range are widely used as stabilizers in Pickering emulsion systems. Nano-fish bone (NFB) could be an excellent stabilizer for Pickering emulsions, it has advantages of environmental friendliness and others. In this work, we prepared nano-fish bone particles through wet media milling treatment to investigate the mechanism behind the effect of adding nano-fish bone and peanut oil on Pickering emulsion formation and stability. The results suggested that increasing NFB resulted in increased particle coverage on the droplet surface, increased emulsion apparent viscosity, and improved stability. Similar changes in both apparent viscosity and emulsion stability were observed as the amount of peanut oil (PO) increased. Therefore, the emulsifying properties and packing behavior of Pickering emulsions could be effected by NFB and PO content. This study provides a reference for the development of functional food-grade Pickering emulsions based on nano-fish bone stabilization.