Assessment of a one step method for the chemical functionalization of Cellulose Nanocrystals

纤维素是自然界中含量最丰富的结构聚合物，数千年来一直被用作燃料、建筑材料和纺织纤维的来源。它的广泛应用主要是由于其固有的物理、化学和机械性质，这些性质是由植物细胞壁中纤维素的分级组织产生的。如今，我们可以支配的纤维素纳米材料武器库包括长度从纳米到毫米的10英尺S颗粒，以及从1到1000的长宽比。纳米纤维材料不仅表现出增强的光学和力学性能，而且还表现出独特的压电和电磁性能，这些性能要么是不存在的，要么是无法在宏观尺度上开发的。这些特性及其多功能性使纳米技术专家将纤维素纳米晶(CNCS)称为“自然界的碳纳米管”。碳纳米管在实际应用中的使用依赖于我们定制其表面化学和理解的能力 这些修饰如何影响其独特的性质和胶体行为。尽管纤维素纳米技术取得了进展，但仍然存在一些重要的挑战。对于基于计算机数控的材料的成功开发和商业化来说，最紧迫的挑战可能是优化纳米颗粒在各种溶剂和复合材料中的分散。因此，简单、经济、可以在水溶液中进行的官能化过程以及能够有效地修饰碳纳米管的表面化学以及官能化碳纳米管的详细表征，对于将碳纳米管引入到工业相关材料中具有很高的要求。Moran-Mirabal研究小组开发了一种简单且廉价的方法，使用三嗪基衍生物对纤维素材料进行功能化。本提案旨在评估这种表面化学在使CelluForce生产的CNCs官能化并使其分散在具有一系列极性的溶剂中的效率。拟议研究的成功完成将为CelluForce提供容易地将CNCs分散到各种溶剂中的方法，使它们能够在高价值产品中以高浓度并入。

Cellulose is the most abundant structural polymer in nature and has been used for millennia as a source of fuel, building materials, and textile fibers. Its widespread use is primarily due to its intrinsic physical, chemical and mechanical properties that arise from the hierarchical organization of cellulose within plant cell walls. Nowadays, the arsenal of cellulosic nanomaterials at our disposal spans particles with lengths of 10's of nanometers to millimeters and aspect ratios from 1 to 1000. Nanocellulosic materials not only exhibit enhanced optical and mechanical properties, but also show unique piezoelectric, and electromagnetic properties that either do not exist or cannot be exploited in their macroscale counterparts. These attributes and their versatility have made nanotechnologists dub cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as "nature's carbon nanotubes". The use of CNCs in practical applications relies on our ability to tailor their surface chemistry and understand how these modifications impact their unique properties and colloidal behavior. Despite advances in cellulose nanotechnology, a number of important challenges remain. Perhaps the most pressing challenge for the successful development and commercialization of CNC-based materials is the optimization of nanoparticle dispersion in a variety of solvents and composite materials. Thus, functionalization procedures that are simple, economic, can be carried out in aqueous solutions, and can efficiently modify the surface chemistry of CNCs along with the detailed characterization of the functionalized CNCs, are in high demand for the incorporation of CNCs into industrially-relevant materials. The Moran-Mirabal Research Group has developed a simple and inexpensive method to functionalize cellulosic materials using triazinyl derivatives. The present proposal aims to assess the efficiency of this surface chemistry in functionalizing CNCs produced by CelluForce and allowing them to be dispersed in solvents with a range of polarities. The successful completion of the proposed research will provide CelluForce with methods to readily disperse CNCs into a variety of solvents, allowing them to be incorporated at high concentrations in high value products.