Sustainable Nanomaterials for Advanced Engineering Applications

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Canada's reliance on its natural resource has, in many ways, directed the country's research and development, and two important trends are emerging. Firstly, renewable natural resources from forest products and agricultural biomass can be exploited and used as high valued-added raw materials for biomedical, personal care and electronic applications. Secondly, the utilization of forest products, such as cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) can aid in the reduction of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide. Through photosynthesis, plants extract CO2 and combine with water to produce cellulose, from which CNC is extracted through an acid hydrolysis process. From this renewable resource, we will exploit the use of functionalized CNC as high value-added raw materials. The proposal focuses on the synthesis of functionalized CNCs (CNC-Hybrids) in green solvents, which eliminates the tedious and complicated purification of products after synthesis. The surface charges, composition of functional groups on CNC surfaces, and morphology of the nanoparticles will be quantified. We will conduct fundamental studies to elucidate the forces that control the interactions between CNC-Hybrids and additives, such as metal ions, organic molecules, amphiphilic compounds etc. Detailed physical understanding of the physics and molecular interactions will be advanced, and correlated to bulk properties (e.g. rheology, colloidal stability, conductivity etc). These principles will be evaluated and applied to several advanced engineering applications, namely: 1. Pickering emulsions - We anticipate that many of the future products will utilize benign nanoparticles to stabilize oil/water emulsions. We will graft pH and temperature responsive brushes onto CNC, and the impact of these stimuli, brush length and density will be examined. 2. Anti-microbial agents - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced a ban on 19 antibacterial chemical agents. As part of this program, we will design and develop sustainable anti-microbial agents that can effectively replace these banned compounds. 3. Conductive inks - Future electronics will be flexible and conductive inks will be printed on a flexible polymeric substrate. We will develop conductive inks by functionalizing CNC with conductive polymer/metallic nanoparticles that permit us to tune the conductivity. The performance of these conductive inks will be evaluated in a model electronic device. The fundamental knowledge generated from this program will advance the design and development of sustainable nanomaterials for various advanced engineering applications. Through this program, value innovation will be created resulting in the creation of highly skilled jobs for Canadians. HQP trained with skills on the modification and formulation of CNC-Hybrids will be able to support this new industry and contribute to the economy.