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Mechanically Robust Gels Formed from Hydrophobized Cellulose Nanocrystals.

Rinat NigmatullinRobert HarnimanValeria GabrielliJuan C Muñoz-GarcíaYaroslav Z KhimyakJesús AnguloStephen J Eichhorn
Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces (2018)
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) that bind to each other through associative hydrophobic interactions have been synthesized by modifying sulfated CNCs (sCNCs) with hydrophobic moieties. These octyl-CNCs form gels at significantly lower concentrations than parent sCNCs, producing extremely strong hydrogels. Unlike sCNCs, these octyl-CNCs do not form ordered liquid crystalline phases indicating a random association into a robust network driven by hydrophobic interactions. Furthermore, involvement of the octyl-CNCs into multicomponent supramolecular assembly was demonstrated in combination with starch. AFM studies confirm favorable interactions between starch and octyl-CNCs, which is thought to be the source of the dramatic increase in gel strength.
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