Mechanical and Viscoelastic Properties of Cellulose Nanocrystals Reinforced Poly(ethylene glycol) Nanocomposite Hydrogels

Most electronic Supporting Information files are available without a subscription to ACS Web Editions

Jun Yang

2013

Scholarcy highlights

  • Most electronic Supporting Information files are available without a subscription to ACS Web Editions
  • The aqueous nanocomposite cellulose nanocrystals/poly(ethylene glycol) precursor solutions covalently cross-linked through a one-stage photocross-linking process
  • It was found that the homogeneously dispersed nanocomposite hydrogels can be prepared with ϕCNC being less than 1.5%, whereas the heterogeneous nanocomposite hydrogels were obtained with ϕCNC being higher than 1.5%
  • The nanocomposite hydrogels exhibited higher strengths and flexibilities when compared with neat PEG hydrogels, where the modulus, fracture stress, and fracture strain enhanced by a factor of 3.48, 5, and 3.28, respectively, over the matrix material alone at 1.2% v/v CNC loading
  • Oscillatory shear data indicated the CNC–PEG nanocomposite hydrogels were more viscous than the neat PEG hydrogels and were efficient at energy dissipation due to the reversible interactions between CNC and PEG polymer chains
  • It was proposed that the strong gel viscoelastic behavior and the mechanical reinforcement were related to “filler network”, where the temporary interactions between CNC and PEG interfered with the covalent cross-links of PEG
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