Pore Size in Potato Starch

Silver crystals were produced in native potato starch by reduction from silver nitrate solution. The size of crystals ranged from less than 0.5 nm to 75 nm, in two distinct types of distribution. Considerations of nucleation and growth support the possibility that crystal size is an index of pore size. A model of free space distribution in the swollen starch grain relates lamellation of the grain to variations in the density of the starch substance.