The physicochemical effect of sugar alcohol plasticisers on oxidised nanocellulose gels and extruded filaments

Marcus A. Johns, Rinat Nigmatullin, Emily D. Cranston, Stephen J. Eichhorn

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
71 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Oxidised nanocelluloses have previously shown promise for the production of extruded filaments with high tensile strength properties. However, they also exhibit poor wet strength due to swelling upon immersion in water. This has resulted in the use of chemical cross-linkers, or co-extrusion with multivalent cations, or cationic polymers, to inhibit this. Here, we report on the effect of incorporating sugar alcohols (glycerol, sorbitol and maltitol) in an oxidised nanocellulose gel before extrusion. Whilst their presence weakens the initial gel, they enable the continuous wet spinning of filaments that are stable in aqueous media without the need for post extrusion processing. We conclude that the relative hydrophilicity of the sugar alcohol and its ability to protonate surface carboxyl groups upon drying are key parameters regarding the physicochemical effects observed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7829-7843
Number of pages15
JournalCellulose
Volume28
Issue number12
Early online date8 Jul 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
SJE, MAJ and RN would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for provision of financial support grant no. (EP/N03340X/2). MAJ would also like to thank the Mitacs Accelerate scheme for additional funding (ORS RPB (GR018401)). We gratefully acknowledge Dr Michael Zachariadis and the Material and Chemical Characterisation Facility (MC) at the University of Bath, http://go.bath.ac.uk/mc2 , for their support and assistance in this work with regards to MCLSS; Dr Zakir Hussein for assistance with SAXS acquisition, and Ass. Prof. Feng Jiang for access to the QCM. 2

Funding Information:
SJE, MAJ and RN would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for provision of financial support grant no. (EP/N03340X/2). MAJ would also like to thank the Mitacs Accelerate scheme for additional funding (ORS RPB (GR018401)). We gratefully acknowledge Dr Michael Zachariadis and the Material and Chemical Characterisation Facility (MC2) at the University of Bath, http://go.bath.ac.uk/mc2 , for their support and assistance in this work with regards to MCLSS; Dr Zakir Hussein for assistance with SAXS acquisition, and Ass. Prof. Feng Jiang for access to the QCM.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

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