Synthetic strategies of nanocellulose surface modification for functional bio-nanocomposites

为了开发更环保和可持续的材料，需要从可再生原料中开发具有适当机械和功能特性的轻质结构材料（例如纳米复合材料）。纤维素纳米晶体（CNC）由于其可持续性、丰富性、高表面积和优异的机械性能而成为开发此类材料的最有前途的候选者之一。此外，它们的纳米结构和纳米尺寸使它们能够在分子水平上与聚合物相互作用，使它们成为合适的聚合物纳米填料。其表面丰富的羟基基团可以被修饰以实现功能材料的形成，例如抗菌膜、刺激响应材料和疏水涂层。化学改性是一种有效的方法，可以调整CNC表面的适当功能特性，控制其在溶剂或聚合物基质中的分散，并定制其界面自组装特性，所有这些都可以提高材料性能。然而，有很少的了解如何化学转化的CNCs的功能应用可能会影响其纳米结构，结晶度，胶体性质，以及由此产生的物理化学性质的聚合物材料。这阻碍了它们在许多先进功能材料中的应用。 我们将对CNCs进行系统的化学定制，将其用作功能聚合物纳米复合材料的胶体支架，从长远来看，这将拓宽我们对CNCs及其在抗菌材料、防污表面等功能材料中的应用的科学认识。疏水性和抗紫外线涂层。拟议的研究将通过关注合成方法和工艺技术来控制纳米结构和功能，从而扩大CNC材料的应用。这些将功能基团结合到CNC上的基础研究将为材料制备提供新的方法，并为CNC及其聚合物纳米复合材料的材料科学提供理解。该研究结合了聚合物化学和物理，工艺工程和产品设计方面的科学挑战，因此将为各级HQP提供宝贵的多学科培训。总的来说，一个由8名聚合物科学家和工程师组成的多学科团队将接受培训（2名博士，2名硕士和5名本科合作学生）。除了用这些熟练的HQP增强加拿大的劳动力外，这项研究的成果还将通过创造一个新的增值可持续CNC纳米材料出口市场来造福加拿大经济，该市场有可能振兴加拿大的林业部门并提供环境效益，因为CNC可持续地来源于碳汇植物。

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.