Bio-mimetic Architectures with Sustainable Polymers

该项目的目的是详细了解基于生物聚合物的纳米颗粒，如纤维素和甲壳素纳米晶体（CNC和ChNC）如何与聚合物基质相互作用。在尺寸（分布），结晶度和表面电荷方面对构建块的性质进行严格表征将使我们能够开发标准化技术，以在复合系统中可靠和稳健地使用这些材料。该项目以集团内部的专业知识为基础，旨在开发对CNC和ChNC自组装特性的控制，并将其直接应用于从瓜尔胶和其他纤维素衍生物制备复合材料。学生将确定CNC和ChNC的特性，这些特性决定了它们在聚合物基质中的分散性，从而产生复合材料，并确定从不同天然来源获得的纳米晶材料的表面电荷和形态（和/或用不同程序提取）如何影响复合材料的最终特性。此外，我们的目标是开发一种独立于批次的分离方案，以实现优化的复合材料性能。特别是，我们将把我们的注意力集中在其他多糖，包括瓜尔胶和羟丙基纤维素。

The aim of the project is to develop a detailed understanding of how biopolymer-based nanoparticles such as cellulose and chitin nanocrystals (CNC and ChNC) interact with polymeric matrices. A rigorous characterisation of the properties of the building blocks, in terms of size (distribution), crystallinity and surface charge will enable us to develop standardised techniques for the reliable and robust use of these materials in composite systems. This project builds on the expertise within the group and will aim to develop control over the self-assembly properties of CNC and ChNC and directly apply them in the preparation of composite materials from guar and other cellulose derivatives. The student will identify the properties of CNC and ChNC that determines their dispersion in polymer matrices yielding composites, and determine how surface charge and morphology of the nanocrystalline materials obtained from different natural sources (and/or extracted with different procedures) affect the final properties of the composites. Moreover, we aim to develop a batch-independent isolation protocol that will enable optimised composite performance. In particular, we will focus our attention on other polysaccharides including guar and hydroxypropyl cellulose.