Chen, Pei, Xie, Fengwei, Tang, Fengzai and McNally, Tony (2020) Thermomechanical-induced polyelectrolyte complexation between chitosan and carboxymethyl cellulose enabling unexpected hydrolytic stability. Composites Science and Technology, 189 . 108031. doi:10.1016/j.compscitech.2020.108031

PDF WRAP-thermomechanical-induced-polyelectrolyte-complexation-chitosan-carboxymethyl-cellulose-enabling-unexpected-hydrolytic-stability-Xie-2020.pdf - Accepted Version Embargoed item. Restricted access to Repository staff only until 24 January 2021. Contact author directly, specifying your specific needs. - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0. Download (1904Kb)

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

Natural biopolymers such as chitosan and cellulose have demonstrated huge potential in important and rapidly growing environmental and biomedical applications. However, it is always challenging to create advanced functional biopolymer materials with enhanced hydrolytic stability cost-effectively. Here, we report an advance in preparing biopolymer polyelectrolyte complexed materials based on chitosan and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) using a “dry”, thermo-mechanical kneading method. Despite the high hydrophilicity of chitosan and CMC, the resulting films showed excellent dimensional stability and structural integrity (27% dimensional expansion and 94% weight increase after hydration for one day). In comparison, chitosan-only films were swollen dramatically under the same conditions, with a 138% dimensional expansion and a 913% rise in weight, which were also fragile. We propose that our processing method led to polyelectrolyte complexation between chitosan and CMC generating physical crosslinking points in the materials, which stabilised the films in water. Interestingly, the greater hydrolytic stability of chitosan/CMC films is in contrast with their higher surface hydrophilicity, a contribution from CMC. Our simple approach to engineering high-performance biopolymer materials without resorting to complex chemistries can be envisioned to bring about a new direction in the design of advanced functional materials where sustainability and cost-effectiveness are priorities.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Divisions:	Faculty of Science > WMG (Formerly the Warwick Manufacturing Group)
Journal or Publication Title:	Composites Science and Technology
Publisher:	Pergamon
ISSN:	0266-3538
Official Date:	22 March 2020
Dates:	Date Event 22 March 2020 Published 24 January 2020 Available 21 January 2020 Accepted
Date of first compliant deposit:	5 February 2020
Volume:	189
Article Number:	108031
DOI:	10.1016/j.compscitech.2020.108031
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item