## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Preparation and Characterization of Emulsions  
Emulsions are one of the most widely used encapsulation systems for essential oils that increase their solubility in water, reduce volatility, and improve the stability of active substances [32]. Compared to conventional emulsions, Pickering emulsions are stabilized with solid particles that include good stability against coalescence, higher loading capacity, and lower release rate [33]. The particles used in polysaccharide-based Pickering emulsions involve starch, chitosan, \(\beta\)-cyclodextrin, cellulose derivatives, etc. [34]. Starch modified with octenyl succinic anhydride is recognized as safe and approved as a food additive [35] and could be one most recommended for the preparation of Pickering emulsions [33; 34]. In this study, hydrophobically modified wavy maize starch such as starch sodium octenyl succinate (SSO) was used to immobilize clove essential oil (CL), eugenol (EU), and cinnamaldehyde (CI). The aqueous emulsions consisting of 20% (\(w/w\)) of SSO and 2.5, 5, and 10% (\(w/w\)) of CL, EU, or CI were prepared by using the rotor-stator homogenization method. The main characteristics of the prepared emulsions such as droplet size, polydispersity index, zeta potential, pH, and viscosity were determined (Table 1). The droplet size of the emulsion depended on the active components used and their concentration in the formulation. The smallest droplets with diameters of 293, 181, and 205 nm were obtained using 2.5% of CL, EU, and CI in emulsions preparations, respectively. The size of the emulsion droplets slightly increased with an increase in the oil phase concentration. Significant differences in droplet size were observed when comparing the emulsion samples with the lowest and highest concentrations of essential oils in the preparations. The smaller droplets were characteristic of emulsions containing CI \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline
**Emulsion** & **Droplet Size (nm)** & **PI** & **Zeta Potential (mV)** & **pH** & **Viscosity (mPa-s)** \\ \hline EM-CL-2.5 & 293 \(\pm\) 1 a  & 0.18 \(\pm\) 0.04 b  & \(-\)16.1 \(\pm\) 2.1 c  & 3.58 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 14.4 \(\pm\) 0.7 a  \\ EM-CL-5 & 326 \(\pm\) 8 c  & 0.18 \(\pm\) 0.04 ab  & \(-\)20.0 \(\pm\) 1.2 a  & 18.0 \(\pm\) 0.9 b  \\ EM-CL-10 & 348 \(\pm\) 8 c  & 0.16 \(\pm\) 0.03 ab  & \(-\)19.9 \(\pm\) 0.5 abc  & 3.45 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 31.9 \(\pm\) 1.6 c  \\ EM-EU-10 & 233 \(\pm\) 10 ab  & 0.24 \(\pm\) 0.02 ab  & \(-\)12.5 \(\pm\) 0.4 c  & 3.41 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 25.1 \(\pm\) 1.3 a  \\ EM-EU-10 & 236 \(\pm\) 7 b  & 0.23 \(\pm\) 0.00 ab  & 0.23 \(\pm\) 0.00 ab  & \(-\)15.7 \(\pm\) 0.4 a  & 3.34 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 37.5 \(\pm\) 1.9 b  \\ EM-CI-2.5 & 205 \(\pm\) 16 ab  & 0.32 \(\pm\) 0.04 b  & \(-\)14.5 \(\pm\) 0.8 a  & 3.41 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 14.3 \(\pm\) 0.7 a  \\ EM-CI-5 & 211 \(\pm\) 9 ab  & 0.28 \(\pm\) 0.02 ab  & \(-\)11.6 \(\pm\) 0.9 abc  \\ EM-CI-10 & 218 \(\pm\) 11 b  \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Characteristics of prepared emulsions containing CL, EU, or CI. (205-218 nm) and EU (181-236 nm) while the largest droplets were found in the case of CL emulsions (293-348 nm). The differences in droplet size using the same emulsifier and different essential oils or their components mainly depend on variations in chemical composition and interactions with the emulsifier [36]. Different essential oils have distinct chemical compositions and varying surface tensions. Essential oils also interact differently with the emulsifiers used in the formulation. Some essential oils may have stronger interactions with certain emulsifiers, leading to smaller droplets, while others may not form as stable emulsions and result in larger droplets [37]. The polydispersity index (PI) represents the distribution of oil droplets in the emulsion. PI values closer to zero indicate homogeneous distribution and great emulsion stability [38]. In addition, the zeta potential characteristics can also play a role in the prediction of the emulsion stability.