Synthetic strategies of nanocellulose surface modification for functional bio-nanocomposites

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The quest to develop more eco-friendly and sustainable materials requires the development of lightweight structural materials (e.g. nanocomposites) with suitable mechanical and functional properties from renewable feedstock. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are among the most promising candidates for the development of such materials due to their sustainability, abundance, high surface area, and excellent mechanical properties. Additionally, their nanostructure and nano-size dimension allow them to interact with polymers at a molecular level, making them suitable polymer nanofillers. Their abundant surface hydroxyl groups can be modified to achieve the formation of functional materials, such as antimicrobial films, stimuli-responsive materials, and hydrophobic coatings. Chemical modification is an effective method to tune the appropriate functional properties on CNC surfaces, to control their dispersion in solvents or polymer matrices, and tailor their interfacial, self-assembling properties, all of which enable advances in material performance. However, there is little understanding about how chemical transformation of CNCs for functional applications may influence their nanostructure, crystallinity, colloidal properties, and the resulting physicochemical properties in polymer materials. This has hampered their utilization in many advanced functional materials. ***We will conduct systematic chemical tailoring of CNCs to utilize it as a colloidal scaffold for functional polymer nanocomposites, which will, in the long term, broaden our scientific understanding of CNCs and their utilization in functional materials such as antimicrobial materials, anti-fouling surfaces, hydrophobic and UV resistant coating. The proposed research will expand the application of CNC materials by enabling control over the nanostructure and functionality by focusing on synthetic approaches and process technologies. These fundamental studies of conjugating functional moieties onto CNC will provide both a new method for material preparation and an understanding of the materials science of CNC and its polymer nanocomposites. The research combines scientific challenges in polymer chemistry and physics, process engineering, and product design, and will, therefore, provide valuable multidisciplinary training for HQP at various levels. In all, a multidisciplinary team of 8 polymer scientists and engineers will be trained (2 PhD, 2 MSc, and 5 undergraduate co-op students). In addition to enhancing Canada's workforce with these skilled HQPs, outcomes of this research will benefit the Canadian economy by creating a new export market of value-added sustainable CNC nanomaterial that has the potential to rejuvenate Canada's forestry sector and provide environmental benefits, as CNCs are sustainably sourced from plants that are carbon sinks. *****