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Biomimetic adsorption of zwitterionic–xyloglucan block copolymers to CNF (Hatton et al) 2017 RSC Adv.pdf (1.1 MB)

Biomimetic adsorption of zwitterionic–xyloglucan block copolymers to CNF: towards tailored super-absorbing cellulose materials

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journal contribution
posted on 2019-09-13, 16:14 authored by Fiona HattonFiona Hatton, J Engström, J Forsling, E Malmström, A Carlmark

A biomimetic, facile approach to cellulose modification is the utilisation of self-adsorbing, naturally occurring biopolymers, such as the hemicellulose xyloglucan (XG). Herein, XG-block-poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (XG-b-PSBMA) zwitterionic block copolymers have been prepared and assessed for their ability to adsorb to cellulose, specifically cellulose nanofibrils (CNF). The polymers were synthesised using reversible addition–fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerisation, employing an XG macromolecular RAFT agent (XG-RAFT), polymerising a sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA) under aqueous conditions. The incorporation of the XG block shifted the upper critical solution temperature (UCST) values to higher temperatures (20 and 30 °C) compared with the PSBMA homopolymers (17 and 22 °C) and the transition was also broadened. The adsorption of the polymers to a CNF surface was monitored using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), showing that the XG block enhanced the adsorption of the zwitterionic polymer. The formation of CNF-composite films was achieved utilising a facile vacuum filtration methodology, and the targeted compositions were confirmed by FT-IR and TGA analyses. The films exhibited high degrees of swelling in water, which were investigated at two different temperatures, 5 and 60 °C (below and above the polymer USCT values). These results highlight the advantage of using an XG block for the biomimetic modification of cellulose to form new cellulose-composite materials such as super-absorbing films.

Funding

Tunholmen Foundation

Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC)

History

School

  • Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering

Department

  • Materials

Published in

RSC Advances

Volume

7

Issue

24

Pages

14947 - 14958

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Rights holder

© Royal Society of Chemistry

Acceptance date

2017-02-27

Publication date

2017-03-07

Copyright date

2017

eISSN

2046-2069

Language

  • en

Depositor

Dr Fiona Hatton

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