ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
5 years ago

Smart Cellulose Nanofluids Produced by Tunable Hydrophobic Association of Polymer-Grafted Cellulose Nanocrystals

Smart Cellulose Nanofluids Produced by Tunable Hydrophobic Association of Polymer-Grafted Cellulose Nanocrystals
Chinedum O. Osuji, Heung Soo Baek, Yea Ram Lee, Jin Nam, Miju Kim, Sang Koo Choi, Chan Bok Chung, Jin Woong Kim, Daehwan Park
Cellulose fibrils, unique plant-derived semicrystalline nanomaterials with exceptional mechanical properties, have significant potential for rheology modification of complex fluids due to their ability to form a physically associated semiflexible fibrillary network. Here, we report new associative cellulose nanocrystals (ACNCs) with stress-responsive rheological behaviors in an aqueous solution. The surface-mediated living radical polymerization was employed to graft poly(stearyl methacrylate-co-2-methacryloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) brushes onto the nanofibrils, and then 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation was conducted to produce nanoscale ACNCs in the aqueous solution. The ACNCs displayed interfibril association driven by the hydrophobic interaction that resulted in the formation of a nanofibrillar crystalline gel phase. We observed that the viscosity of the ACNC fluid showed reversible shear thinning and temperature-induced thickening in response to applied shear stress and thermal shock. Moreover, thanks to generation of a mechanically robust nanofibrillar crystalline gel network, the ACNC suspension showed extraordinary stability to changes in salinity and pH. These results highlighted that the interfibril hydrophobic association of ACNCs was vital and played an essential role in regulation of stimuli-responsive sol–gel transitions.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b08783

DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b08783

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.