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Lavoratti, Alessandra, Diejomaoh, Onajite Abafe, Seddon, Annela M., Koev, Todor T. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8218-9753, Khimyak, Yaroslav Z. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0424-4128, Harniman, Robert L., Kontturi, Katri S., Tammelin, Tekla and Eichhorn, Stephen J.
(2025)
Investigating the interactions between a poloxamer and TEMPO-oxidised cellulose nanocrystals.
Carbohydrate Polymers, 352.
ISSN 0144-8617
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Abstract
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have emerged as promising, sustainable materials, with applications in sensors, coatings, pharmaceuticals, and composites. Their modification with block copolymers such as PEO-PPO-PEO triblock copolymers of the Pluronic family has been attempted many times in the literature, with claims that such modification would happen by an anchor(PEO)-buoy(PPO)-anchor(PEO) mechanism. However, there is much disagreement in the literature on this. We herein physically adsorbed Pluronic F127, a nontoxic triblock copolymer poloxamer, comprising hydrophilic polyethylene oxide (PEO) and hydrophobic polypropylene oxide (PPO) blocks, onto the surface of TEMPO oxidised CNCs by simple mixing in an aqueous medium. The adsorption of F127 onto the surface of these CNCs was successful and persistent even after solubilisation. The thermal stability of modified TOCNCs increased (by ~19 °C) compared to their neat and oxidised counterparts. F127-TOCNC suspensions exhibited comparable viscosity to their neat and oxidised counterparts without premature gelation of F127. NOESY NMR observations showed that PPO blocks are more proximal to the TOCNC than the PEO blocks. AFM and QCM-D analyses supported the formation of a rigid, thin layer of block copolymer surrounding the TOCNC. A degree of modification (7 %) was achieved, even after washing, proving that adsorption is persistent and mainly irreversible.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | Data availability statement: Data will be made available on request. Funding Information: S.J.E., A.L., and O.A.D. would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Grant No. EP/V002651/1, for funding. Electron microscope studies were carried out in the Chemical Imaging Facility at the University of Bristol by Dr. Jean-Charles Eloi. The Ganesha X-ray scattering apparatus used for this research was purchased under EPSRC Grant ‘Atoms to Applications’ Grant ref. EP/K035746/1. This work benefited from SasView software, originally developed by the DANSE project under NSF award DMR-0520547. The authors also grateful to the University of East Anglia's Faculty of Science NMR facility and to the HH Wills Physics Laboratory for the SAXS experiments. T.K. is funded via a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship awarded to Dr. Matthew Wallace (MR/T044020/1). K.S.K. acknowledges Research Council of Finland project PreDesign (no. 361951) for funding. T.T. acknowledges Research Council of Finland Flagship Program FinnCERES (no. 318890 and 318891) for funding. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | adsorption,cellulose nanocrystals,tempo oxidation,triblock copolymer,organic chemistry,polymers and plastics,materials chemistry ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1600/1605 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Pharmacology |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Pharmaceutical Materials and Soft Matter |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Dec 2024 01:39 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Jan 2025 01:04 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/98019 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.123156 |
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