A colloidal gel perspective for understanding oleogelation

The field of oleogelation have shown a tremendous progress in the last decade both in terms of fundamental exploration as well as practical applications. However, one of the main bottleneck that still limits the full-scale commercial exploitation of oleogelation techniques is identification of ideal oleogelator(s) with desired properties. Most, if not all oleogelators that are currently been explored in the field, have been identified serendipitously. A rational understanding of the structuring mechanisms and the consequent gel properties of existing systems could serve as a catalyst to accelerate our efforts in finding the ideal oil gelling agents. The purpose of this opinion paper is to look at oleogelation from a colloidal gel perspective in order to have new insights into the gelling properties of different categories of oleogelators forming mono and multicomponent gels.