| 1. |
- Borges, Ana C., et al.
(författare)
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Nanofibrillated cellulose composite hydrogel for the replacement of the Nucleus Pulposus
- 2011
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Ingår i: Acta Biomaterialia. - : Elsevier BV. - 1742-7061 .- 1878-7568. ; 7:9, s. 3412-3421
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The swelling and compressive mechanical behavior as well as the morphology and biocompatibility of composite hydrogels based on Tween® 20 trimethacrylate (T3), N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) and nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) were assessed in the present study. The chemical structure of T3 was verified by FTIR and 1H NMR and the degree of substitution (DS) was found to be around 3. Swelling ratios of neat hydrogels composed of different concentrations of T3 and NVP were found to range from 1.5 to 5.7 with decreasing concentration of T3. Various concentrations of cellulose nanofibrils (0.2 to 1.6 wt%) were then used to produce composite hydrogels that showed lower swelling ratios than neat ones for a given T3 concentration. Neat and composite hydrogels exhibited typical non-linear response under compression. All composite hydrogels showed an increase in elastic modulus compared to neat hydrogel of about 3 to 8-fold, reaching 18 kPa at 0% strain and 62 kPa at 20% strain for the hydrogel with the highest NFC content. All hydrogels presented a porous and homogeneous structure, with interconnected pore cells of around 100 nm in diameter. The hydrogels are biocompatible. The results of this study demonstrate that composite hydrogels reinforced with NFC may be viable as nucleus pulposus implant due to their adequate swelling ratio that may restore annulus fibrosus loading and their increased mechanical properties that could possibly restore the height of intervertebral discs.
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| 2. |
- Eyholzer, Christian, et al.
(författare)
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Biocomposite hydrogels with carboxymethylated, nanofibrillated cellulose powder for replacement of the nucleus pulposus
- 2011
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Ingår i: Biomacromolecules. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1525-7797 .- 1526-4602. ; 12:5, s. 1419-1427
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biocomposite hydrogels with carboxymethylated, nanofibrillated cellulose (c-NFC) powder were prepared by UV polymerization of N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone with Tween 20 trimethacrylate as a crosslinking agent for replacement of the native, human nucleus pulposus (NP) in intervertebral discs. The swelling ratios and the moduli of elasticity in compression of neat and biocomposite hydrogels were evaluated in dependence of c-NFC concentration (ranging from 0 to 1.6% v/v) and degree of substitution (DS, ranging from 0 to 0.23). The viscoelastic properties in shear and the material relaxation behavior in compression were measured for neat and biocomposite hydrogels containing 0.4% v/v of fibrils (DS ranging from 0 to 0.23) and their morphologies were characterized by cryo-scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM). The obtained results show that the biocomposite hydrogels can successfully mimic the mechanical and swelling behavior of the NP. In addition, the presence of the c-NFC show lower strain values after cyclic compression tests and consequently create improved material relaxation properties, compared to neat hydrogels. Among the tested samples, the biocomposite hydrogel containing 0.4% v/v of c-NFC with a DS of 0.17 shows the closest behavior to native NP. Further investigation should focus on evaluation and improvement of the long-term relaxation behavior.
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| 3. |
- Eyholzer, Christian
(författare)
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Dried nanofibrillated cellulose and its bionanocomposites
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- During the past decade there has been a growing interest in the reinforcement of synthetic polymers with cellulose nanowhiskers and nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) obtained from plants or bacteria. Their beneficial mechanical properties like high stiffness and strength, in combination with their low mass allowed successful reinforcement of water based polymer dispersions (latexes) for the production of solution cast composite films. However, the production of fully degradable or biocompatible nanocomposites containing NFC with high aspect ratio and diameters below 100 nm is still a challenging task. One of the main issues to overcome is irreversible agglomeration (hornification) of NFC. Hornification can occur during drying of aqueous NFC suspensions or during compounding of NFC with hydrophobic polymers and it can be explained with the formation of a large number of hydrogen bonds between the hydroxyl groups of adjacent nanofibrils. This process is accompanied by a considerable decrease of the NFC aspect ratio and consequently results in the complete loss of its beneficial properties. Therefore, the objective of this PhD work was to chemically functionalize NFC in order to prevent hornification during drying and to develop novel bionanocomposites with well dispersed NFC, displaying improved properties compared to the neat polymers. Successful preparation of such bio-based composites could open up ways to new applications in e.g. medicine, bio-packaging or horticulture. In this study, a method for the preparation of water-redispersible NFC in powder form was developed, comprising carboxymethylation and mechanical disintegration of refined, bleached beech pulp (RBP). The powders formed stable gels when dispersed in water and SEM images confirmed that carboxymethylation had successfully prevented hornification of NFC during drying. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) of poly(vinyl acetate) latex composites showed that carboxymethylation did not negatively influence the reinforcing potential of NFC. Consistently, the reinforcing potential of c-NFC was not altered by the drying procedure, as was shown by DMA experiments and tensile tests of hydroxypropyl cellulose composites containing dried and never-dried c-NFC. In a subsequent study, bionanocomposites were developed by UV-photopolymerization of N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone in presence of a trimethacrylate crosslinker and water-redispersed c-NFC powder to yield a biocompatible hydrogel for the replacement of degenerated human Nucleus Pulposus (NP) in intervertebral discs. The native structure and function of the NP was mimicked by the randomly oriented c-NFC fibrils in the hydrogel matrix. The biocomposite hydrogels showed similar values for swelling ratio and modulus of elasticity in compression, compared to native NP. A final study focused on the feasibility of an industrial up-scaling of poly(lactic acid) composites containing compatibilized c-NFC using extrusion.
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