Hatton, F.L., Engström, J., Forsling, J. et al. (2 more authors) (2017) Biomimetic adsorption of zwitterionic–xyloglucan block copolymers to CNF: towards tailored super-absorbing cellulose materials. RSC Advances, 7 (24). 14947.
Abstract
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.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2017. Open Access Article. Published on 07 March 2017. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 25 Apr 2017 11:07 |
Last Modified: | 25 Apr 2017 11:07 |
Published Version: | https://www.doi.org/10.1039/C6RA28236A |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1039/C6RA28236A |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:115511 |