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Surface modification of cellulose nanocrystals by grafting with poly(lactic acid) |
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| Authors: | Mercedes Peltzer Aihua Pei Qi Zhou Lars Berglund Alfonso Jiménez |
| Affiliation: | 1. Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Sciences Department, University of Alicante, , 03080 Alicante, Spain;2. School of Biotechnology, Royal Institute of Technology, AlbaNova University Centre, , SE‐106 91 Stockholm, Sweden;3. Department of Fiber and Polymer Technology, Royal Institute of Tecnology, , SE‐100 44 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Abstract: | The use of biopolymers obtained from renewable resources is currently growing and they have found unique applications as matrices and/or nanofillers in ‘green’ nanocomposites. Grafting of polymer chains to the surface of cellulose nanofillers was also studied to promote the dispersion of cellulose nanocrystals in hydrophobic polymer matrices. The aim of this study was to modify the surface of cellulose nanocrystals by grafting from L‐lactide by ring‐opening polymerization in order to improve the compatibility of nanocrystals and hydrophobic polymer matrices. The effectiveness of the grafting was evidenced by the long‐term stability of a suspension of poly(lactic acid)‐grafted cellulose nanocrystals in chloroform, by the presence of the carbonyl peak in modified samples determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and by the modification in C1s contributions observed by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. No modification in nanocrystal shape was observed in birefringence studies and transmission electron microscopy. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry |
| Keywords: | cellulose nanocrystals surface modification grafting‐from ring‐opening polymerization L‐lactide |