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    Cooperative Effects of Cellulose Nanocrystals and Sepiolite When Combined on Ionic Liquid Plasticised Chitosan Materials

    Year: 2021

    Journal: Polymers, Volume 13, FEB

    Authors: Chen, Pei; Xie, Fengwei; Tang, Fengzai; McNally, Tony

    Organizations: European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant [798225]

    Keywords: polysaccharide plasticisation; biopolymer thermomechanical processing; biopolymer nanocomposites; nanoclay; cellulose nanocrystals; ionic liquid

    Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and/or sepiolite (SPT) were thermomechanically mixed with un-plasticised chitosan and chitosan/carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) blends plasticised with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C(2)mim][OAc]). Examination of the morphology of these materials indicates that SPT aggregates were reduced when CNCs or [C(2)mim][OAc] were present. Inclusion of CNCs and/or SPT had a greater effect on material properties when the matrices were un-plasticised. Addition of SPT or CNCs altered the crystalline structure of the un-plasticised chitosan matrix. Moreover, a combination of SPT and CNCs was more effective at suppressing re-crystallisation. Nonetheless, the mechanical properties and surface hydrophobicity were more related to CNC/SPT-biopolymer interactions. The un-plasticised bionanocomposites generally showed increased relaxation temperatures, enhanced tensile strength, and reduced surface wettability. For the [C(2)mim][OAc] plasticised matrices, the ionic liquid (IL) dominates the interactions with the biopolymers such that the effect of the nanofillers is diminished. However, for the [C(2)mim][OAc] plasticised chitosan/CMC matrix, CNCs and SPT acted synergistically suppressing re-crystallisation but resulting in increased tensile strength.
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