Department of Biosystems Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea.
Department of Biosystems Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2020 Jul 15;155:456-469. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.03.171. Epub 2020 Mar 25.
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have received a significant amount of attention from the researchers. It is used as a nanomaterial for various applications due to its excellent physiochemical properties for the last few decades. Self-assembly is a phenomenon where autonomous reorganization of randomly oriented species occurs elegantly. Self-assembly is responsible for the formation of the hierarchical cholesteric structure of CNCs. This process is highly influenced by several factors, such as the surface chemistry of the nanoparticles, intermolecular forces, and the fundamental laws of thermodynamics. Various conventional experimental designs and molecular dynamics (MD) studies have been applied to determine the possible mechanism of self-assembly in CNCs. Different external factors, like pH, temperature, magnetic/electric fields, vacuum, also influence the self-assembly process in CNCs. Notably, better responses have been observed in CNCs-grafted polymer nanocomposites. These functionalized CNCs with stimuli-responsive self-assembly have immense practical applications in modern biotechnology and medicine. Herein, we have concisely discussed the mechanism of the self-assembled CNCs in the presence of different external factors such as pH, temperature, electric/magnetic fields, and their biomedical applications.
纤维素纳米晶体（CNC）在过去几十年中因其优异的物理化学性质而受到研究人员的广泛关注。它被用作各种应用的纳米材料。自组装是一种自主重组随机取向物种的现象。自组装是 CNC 形成分级胆甾型结构的原因。这个过程受到许多因素的影响，如纳米粒子的表面化学、分子间力和热力学的基本定律。已经应用了各种传统的实验设计和分子动力学（MD）研究来确定 CNC 中自组装的可能机制。不同的外部因素，如 pH 值、温度、磁场/电场、真空，也会影响 CNC 的自组装过程。值得注意的是，在接枝聚合物纳米复合材料的 CNC 中观察到了更好的响应。这些具有刺激响应自组装功能的功能化 CNC 在现代生物技术和医学中有巨大的实际应用。在此，我们简要讨论了在不同外部因素（如 pH 值、温度、电场/磁场）存在下自组装 CNC 的机制，以及它们在生物医学中的应用。
