Design of Heterogeneous Nuclei Composed of Uniaxial Cellulose Nanocrystal Assemblies for Epitaxial Growth of Poly(ε-caprolactone)

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.6b02775
• Publication Date: 2017-04-06T20:06:38Z
• Authors: Zihao Lu; Mingfeng Liu; Qinwei Gao; Danqin Yang; Zhisen Zhang; Xiaopeng Xiong; Yuan Jiang; Xiang Yang Liu
• Keywords: Overlayer; Caprolactone

Epitaxial crystallization is the most prominent approach to achieving oriented thin films composed of semicrystalline polymers (SCPs). Nevertheless, current templates remain limited in fulfilling SCPs with high-throughput coating processes. Herein, we report first template for epitaxial based on a uniaxial assembly shape-anisotropic nanocrystals—cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). The was fabricated via dip-coating method, leading both planar and nonplanar substrates. Such functioned similarly laterally SCP film regulating behaviors poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL). orientational relationship between CNC PCL overlayer studied systematically by employing multiple characterization tools including scattering, diffraction, microscopy. Moreover, match crystallography-regulated hydrogen-bonding networks two layers confirmed molecular modeling, agreement experimental results. Besides regulation, CNCs also promoted kinetics effectively due nanoepitaxial effect provided each particle. We highlight this facile heterogeneous nuclei its extendability coatings 3D-oriented ambient