Hydrogels from Hydrothermal Treatment of Nanocrystalline Cellulose and their Applications

纳米晶纤维素水热处理水凝胶及其应用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-03691
• 负责人: Hatzikiriakos, Savvas
• 金额: $ 4.66万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=691241
• 关键词: Hydrogels; Hydrothermal; Treatment; Nanocrystalline; Cellulose

Canada's cellulosic fibre species are known as an abundant, renewable organic material with outstanding properties and a variety of existing and potentially useful, high-demand applications. More specifically nanocrystalline cellulose (CNC) is of particular interest to this proposal due to: (i) it is a unique material possessing a number of outstanding properties; (ii) Canada has its own CNC technologies and patenting rights to produce these materials; (iii) CNC's potential use in many applications is not yet fully explored. The proposal is based on our previous research in the area of kraft pulp suspensions and aims to produce technologies important to the Canadian economy and to that of the province of British Columbia. It is noted that numerous Canadian and International companies exist with interest in cellulose-based bio-products including Domtar, Solegear, Performance Biofilaments, Fibria, Canfor and Noram to name but a few. We have active collaboratons with Noram, Solegear and FPinnovations and we plan to continue and extend these collaborations.****The long term objective is to develop transformative technologies that will target to convert CNC into useful materials and in addition combine it with biodegradable polymers to create value-added bio-products. More specific targets of this proposal are first to develop hydrogels and polyelectrolyte hydrogels based on CNC as sensors for external stimuli such as pressure, temperature and pH . The optimum properties of these sensors will be determined by developing a Molecular Dynamics (MD) method to simulate polyelectrolyte hydrogels. This theoretical framework will calculate the dynamics of these stimuli-responsive polyelectrolyte “smart” hydrogels and the results obtained from the simulations will be used to optimise the properties of the hydrogels to enable their manufacture. Moreover the use of polymer grafted CNC will be used to develop bio-nanocomposites. The main goal is to first synthesize biodegradable polymers and co-polymers of controlled microstructure which will be grafted onto the CNC fibers to produce fully biodegradable and environmentally friendly biocomposites. Finally the use of CNC hydrogels that will be produced by hydrogel methods (fully environmentally-friendly) will be used in stabilizing important products such as inks and paints, supporting Canada in leading the transition from a fossil-based economy to a sustainable and renewable bio-economy.****This proposal is designed to train 10 HQP at different levels from undergraduate (UG) to PhD. The outcomes from this work will stimulate industrial interest and funding will be generated to double this number of HQP within the period of this program as has been the case in the past. The essence of this proposal is that it aims to develop fully bio-based, “smart” technology applications and products which will be essential building blocks in a sustainable environment.***

加拿大的纤维素纤维品种被认为是一种丰富的、可再生的有机材料，具有卓越的性能和各种现有的和潜在的有用的、高需求的应用。更具体地说，纳米晶纤维素（CNC）是本提案特别感兴趣的，因为：(i)它是一种独特的材料，具有许多突出的性能；（ii）加拿大拥有自己的CNC技术和生产这些材料的专利权；（三）CNC在许多应用中的潜在用途尚未得到充分探索。该提案是基于我们之前在卡夫纸浆悬浮液领域的研究，旨在生产对加拿大经济和不列颠哥伦比亚省经济重要的技术。值得注意的是，许多加拿大和国际公司都对纤维素生物产品感兴趣，包括Domtar、Solegear、Performance biofilfilament、Fibria、Canfor和Noram等等。我们与Noram， Solegear和FPinnovations有积极的合作，我们计划继续并扩大这些合作。****长期目标是开发变革性技术，将CNC转化为有用的材料，并将其与可生物降解聚合物结合起来，创造增值的生物产品。该提案的更具体目标是首先开发基于CNC的水凝胶和聚电解质水凝胶作为外部刺激（如压力，温度和pH）的传感器。这些传感器的最佳性能将通过开发分子动力学（MD）方法来模拟聚电解质水凝胶来确定。该理论框架将计算这些刺激响应的聚电解质“智能”水凝胶的动力学，从模拟中获得的结果将用于优化水凝胶的性能，以使其能够制造。此外，利用聚合物接枝CNC将用于开发生物纳米复合材料。主要目标是首先合成具有可控微观结构的可生物降解聚合物和共聚物，并将其接枝到CNC纤维上，以生产完全可生物降解的环保生物复合材料。最后，通过水凝胶方法生产的CNC水凝胶（完全环保）将用于稳定油墨和油漆等重要产品，支持加拿大从化石经济向可持续和可再生的生物经济过渡。****本提案旨在培养从本科（UG）到博士不同层次的10名HQP。这项工作的结果将激发工业界的兴趣，并将产生资金，使HQP的数量在该计划期间翻一番，就像过去的情况一样。该提案的实质是，它旨在开发完全基于生物的“智能”技术应用和产品，这些应用和产品将成为可持续发展环境的重要组成部分