Comparison of nanocrystalline cellulose dispersion versus surface nucleation in poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) crystallization

Hai Haham, Mo Yuan Shen, Sarah L. Billington, Curtis W. Frank

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC), which is a known crystal nucleating agent, is utilized to improve poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) thermal properties. Since NCC aggregation in PHBV negatively affects composite properties and processability, NCC crystal nucleation effectiveness was examined at low concentrations (<1%) under isothermal and nonisothermal conditions. NCC was dispersed in PHBV solutions using a solvent exchange method and then cast into films. We found that NCC was an effective nucleating agent in amounts as low as 0.25%, resulting in an increase in PHBV crystallization rate by more than 50%. However, increasing to 1% NCC resulted in aggregation in PHBV, with the NCC becoming less effective compared to lower NCC concentrations. In an attempt to improve NCC dispersion, we added cellulose acetate (CA) or stearic acid (SA) to the casting solution, anticipating that CA or SA would preferentially adsorb on the NCC. With such pretreatment, dispersion was indeed improved but NCC became less effective as a PHBV nucleating agent. This work shows the advantage of using low NCC concentrations (<0.5%) for promoting PHBV crystallization, but the lack of improved nucleation upon addition of CA and SA supports the importance of NCC surface accessibility.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)15-25
Number of pages11
JournalSPE Polymers
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. SPE Polymers published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. on behalf of Society of Plastics Engineers.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Grant CMMI‐1727836. Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Part of this work was performed at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF), supported by the National Science Foundation under award ECCS‐1542152.

FundersFunder number
National Science FoundationECCS‐1542152, CMMI‐1727836

    Keywords

    • PHBV
    • nanocrystalline cellulose
    • nucleating agents

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