Effects of interfacial interactions and interpenetrating brushes on the electrospinning of cellulose nanocrystals-polystyrene fibers

Mahsa Kalantari; Rongbing Du; Cagri Ayranci; Yaman Boluk

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2018.04.089

Effects of interfacial interactions and interpenetrating brushes on the electrospinning of cellulose nanocrystals-polystyrene fibers

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Oct 15:528:419-430. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.04.089. Epub 2018 Apr 27.

Authors

Mahsa Kalantari¹, Rongbing Du², Cagri Ayranci³, Yaman Boluk⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
² National Institute for Nanotechnology, National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁴ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; National Institute for Nanotechnology, National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Electronic address: yaman.boluk@ualberta.ca.

PMID: 29879619
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.04.089

Abstract

This study investigated the electrospinning of polystyrene solutions using added unmodified and modified (with grafted nitrobenzene and trifluoromethyl benzene functionalities and polystyrene brushes) cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). A strong correlation existed between the formation of beads on the fibers and the degree of dispersion of CNC particles in the electrospinning mixtures. Agglomerates of CNC particles always concentrated in the form of beads. The best dispersion in N,N dimethylformamide (DMF) mixtures was obtained using CNC-2 surfaces that were modified using trifluoromethyl benzene functional groups. Using CNC-2 also resulted in both uniform and bead-free electrospun fibers. Despite good dispersion in DMF, the use of grafted polystyrene (PS) chains with CNC-g resulted in beads above a 1.0% concentration level. This result is attributed to more favorable interactions between the CNC-g brushes during the DMF solvent evaporation stage of electrospinning. The electrospinning of CNC/PS nanocomposites at very low CNC concentrations (<1.0%) showed strong adhesion bonds at the polymer-CNC interfaces. Excellent mechanical properties were also produced by using interpenetrating networks of surface brushes.

Keywords: Cellulose nanocrystals; Dispersion; Electrospinning; N,N dimethylformamide; Polymer brushes; Polystyrene; Tensile strength.