Thermoresponsive Nanocellulose Hydrogels with Tunable Mechanical Properties

• DOI: 10.1021/mz400596g
• Publication Date: 2014-02-28T18:21:04Z
• Authors: Jason R. McKee; Sami Hietala; Jani Seitsonen; Janne Laine; Eero Kontturi; Olli Ikkala
• Keywords: Nanocellulose

Cellulose microfibrils physically bound together by soft hemicellulose chains form the scaffolding that makes plant cell walls strong. Inspired this architecture, we designed biomimetic thermoreversible hydrogel networks based on reinforcing cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and thermoresponsive methylcellulose (MC). Upon dissolving MC powder in CNC aqueous dispersions, viscoelastic dispersions were formed at 20 °C, where storage modulus (G′) is tunable from 1.0 to 75 Pa upon increasing concentration 0 3.5 wt % with MC. By contrast, 60 °C a distinct gel state obtained G′ ≫ G″, ∼ ω0, an order of magnitude larger values 110 900 constant MC, due physical cross-links between CNCs. Therefore, simply mixing two sustainable components leads first all-cellulose nanocellulose-based hydrogels.