Polyethylene oxide films reinforced by cellulose nanocrystals: Microstructure-properties relationship

Oleg V Surov; Marina I Voronova; Andrei V Afineevskii; Anatoly G Zakharov

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.10.075

Polyethylene oxide films reinforced by cellulose nanocrystals: Microstructure-properties relationship

Carbohydr Polym. 2018 Feb 1:181:489-498. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.10.075. Epub 2017 Oct 23.

Authors

Oleg V Surov¹, Marina I Voronova², Andrei V Afineevskii³, Anatoly G Zakharov⁴

Affiliations

¹ G.A Krestov Institute of Solution Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences,1 Akademicheskaya St., Ivanovo 153045, Russian Federation. Electronic address: ovs@isc-ras.ru.
² G.A Krestov Institute of Solution Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences,1 Akademicheskaya St., Ivanovo 153045, Russian Federation. Electronic address: miv@isc-ras.ru.
³ Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, 7 Sheremetevsky Prospekt, Ivanovo 153000, Russian Federation,. Electronic address: afineevskiy@mail.ru.
⁴ G.A Krestov Institute of Solution Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences,1 Akademicheskaya St., Ivanovo 153045, Russian Federation. Electronic address: agz@isc-ras.ru.

PMID: 29253999
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.10.075

Abstract

Composite films of polyethylene oxide/cellulose nanocrystals (PEO/CNCs) comprising up to 75wt.% CNCs were obtained via solution casting. For the first time, investigations of the PEO/CNCs composite films over a wide composition range were carried out. Morphology, crystalline structure, thermal stability and the resulting reinforcing effect on the PEO matrix were studied. Polarizing optical microscopy (POM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and tensile testing were used to examine the properties of the composites. The revealed extreme dependences of the composite properties refer to the CNCs content of 15-35wt.%. This composition range is characterized by destruction of PEO spherulites and appearance of a pronounced PEO fibrillar structure.

Keywords: Nanocrystalline cellulose; Polyethylene oxide; Polymer microstructure; Polymer nanocomposite; microcrystalline cellulose (PubChem CID: 62698); polyethylene oxide (PubChem CID: 24850969).