Emerging opportunities of silica-based materials within the food industry

Silica-based materials are considered very versatile and flexible, easily optimized to various applications that can go from catalysis, biosensor support, enzyme/drug carriers, inorganic fillers to coatings/polymers and many others. With emphasis on colloidal silica, the multitude of synthesis pathways, mostly comprising the gaseous (fumed pyrogenic silicas) and liquid (wet) routes (Sto center dot ber, surfactant-templated, precipitated, and biomimetic silicas), are responsible for the development of different silica-based materials with varied surface chemistry, morphology, porosity, size, and surface area. Given this, their use as support matrix to develop silica-metal hybrids is a common and current trend with various potential applications. In this review, the most common synthesis pathways to develop colloidal silicas and silica-metal hybrids are discussed. A special emphasis regarding to their applications within the food sector is given, more specifically, as host/carriers for enzyme immobilization in food production and processing, as materials to produce sensor-like devices for food-related analyte detection in food safety monitoring, and as inorganic fillers in polymer composite formation. This last application is related to the added improvements (e.g., mechanical, gas barrier, antibacterial, etc.) in the polymeric matrix, posing as potential alternatives to be used in food packaging.