Cellulose nanocrystal/plant oil polymer composites with hydrophobicity, humidity-sensitivity, and high wet strength

Baoxia Wang; Jiangjun Zhou; Zixuan Wang; Shiling Mu; Rong Wu; Zhongkai Wang

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115739

Cellulose nanocrystal/plant oil polymer composites with hydrophobicity, humidity-sensitivity, and high wet strength

Carbohydr Polym. 2020 Mar 1:231:115739. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115739. Epub 2019 Dec 13.

Authors

Baoxia Wang¹, Jiangjun Zhou², Zixuan Wang², Shiling Mu², Rong Wu³, Zhongkai Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Light TextileEngineering and Art, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui, 230036, China; Biomass Molecular Engineering Center, Department of Materials Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China.
² Biomass Molecular Engineering Center, Department of Materials Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China.
³ College of Light TextileEngineering and Art, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui, 230036, China.
⁴ Biomass Molecular Engineering Center, Department of Materials Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China. Electronic address: wangzk6@ahau.edu.cn.

PMID: 31888815
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115739

Abstract

The preparation of high-performance cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs)/plant oil-derived polymer composites is still a challenge, due to their poor compatibility. Here, by designing amide groups and epoxy groups on sunflower oil derived polymers, appropriate interfacial hydrogen bond interactions between the polymers and CNCs were constructed, where CNCs were homogenously dispersed in polymer matrix. Tensile tests and DMA results revealed that the incorporation of CNCs into sunflower oil derived epoxy polymers significantly enhanced the tensile strength and storage modulus. More importantly, nanocomposites with 50 wt% CNCs are still hydrophobic, which not only show a fast and reversible humidity induced modulus switch, but also exhibit high wet strength (19.9 MPa) after equilibrium water adsorption. The present work revealed that proper designed CNCs/plant oil polymer nanocomposites are good candidates for high performance and functional materials, which are able to replace petroleum-based materials in various fields.

Keywords: Cellulose nanocrystal; High wet strength; Humidity-sensitivity; Hydrophobicity; Nanocomposites; Plant oil based polymer.