Nanometric organisation in blends of gellan/xyloglucan hydrogels

•The nanometric organisation of gellan/xyloglucan hydrogels is demonstrated.•The inclusion of xyloglucan to gellan hydrogels results in a pseudoplastic gel.•The SAXS analysis revealed a dependence of voids/pores sizes with xyloglucan content.•The gellan/xyloglucan hydrogels present good diffusibility of methylene blue dye. Mixtures of gellan gum (GL) and a xyloglucan (XGJ) extracted from Hymenaea courbaril seeds were prepared in a solution of 0.15molL−1 NaCl. Rheology measurements revealed that 2.4gL−1 pure GL formed a brittle hydrogel, and GL-XGJ blends showed improved pseudoplastic character with higher XGJ contents. SAXS analyses showed that the Rg dimensions ranged from 1.3 to 4.9nm, with larger values occurring as the amount of XGJ increased, and diffusion tests indicated that better diffusion of methylene blue dye was obtained in the network with a higher XGJ content. AFM topographic images of the films deposited onto mica revealed fewer heterogeneous surfaces with increased XGJ contents. The water contact angle revealed more hydrophobic character on all of the films, and the wettability decreased with increasing amounts of XGJ. Therefore, the demonstrated benefit of using XGJ blends is the production of a soft material with improved interface properties.