Grafting polyethylene glycol on nanocellulose toward biodegradable polymer nanocomposites

• The reinforcing effect of a small amount of nanocellulose materials on biodegradable and polymer-based nanocomposites remains challenging because of the poor dispersion of the nanomaterials and inefficient interaction between the nanocellulose and the polymer matrix. To improve this, we grafted polyethylene glycol (PEG) on nanocellulose and produced composites of 0.1 wt% nanocellulose materials and polylactic acid (PLA) matrix. Here, two types of PEG grafted nanocellulose including TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanocrystals (TOCNCs) and cellulose nanofibers (TOCNFs), with different lengths and diameters were used as reinforcements, respectively. We investigated the effects of grafting PEG on microstructure, mechanical properties and thermal behaviors of the PLA/nanocellulose composites. It is found that the PEG grafted nanocellulose dispersed better compared to the unmodified nanocellulose in the PLA matrix, and provides higher reinforcing effect that improves the elastic modulus of the nanocomposites compared to the composites with unmodified nanocellulose and ungrafted PEG. However, the glass transition temperature of the nanocomposites was not improved by grafting PEG significantly. We also found that the nanocomposites reinforced by TOCNF exhibited enhanced mechanical and thermal properties compared to those with TOCNCs, which is caused by the higher aspect ratio of the TOCNFs.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Kompositmaterial och -teknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Composite Science and Engineering (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Industriell bioteknik -- Biomaterial (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Industrial Biotechnology -- Bio Materials (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Nanocellulose

Grafting

Dispersion

Mechanical property

Thermal property

Trä och bionanokompositer

Wood and Bionanocomposites

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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