Kedzior Stephanie A, Kiriakou Michael, Niinivaara Elina, Dubé Marc A, Fraschini Carole, Berry Richard M, Cranston Emily D
Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L7.
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Centre for Catalyst Research and Innovation, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur Pvt., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1N 6N5.
ACS Macro Lett. 2018 Aug 21;7(8):990-996. doi: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00334. Epub 2018 Aug 1.
Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization was used to graft hydrophobic poly(butyl acrylate) from cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) resulting in compatibilized CNCs that were successfully incorporated inside the core of polymer latex particles. CNCs are anisotropic nanoparticles derived from renewable resources and have potential as reinforcing agents in nanocomposites. However, challenges due to the incompatibility between cellulose and hydrophobic polymers and processing difficulties, such as aggregation, have limited the performance of CNC nanocomposites produced to date. Here, CNCs were incorporated into the miniemulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate by adding polymer-grafted CNCs to the monomer phase. A poly(methyl methacrylate)-CNC nanocomposite latex was subsequently produced in situ, whereby polymer-grafted CNCs (with optimized graft length) were located inside the latex particles, as shown by transmission electron microscopy. This work provides a method for controlling the location of CNCs in latex-based nanocomposites and may extend the use of CNCs in commercial adhesives and coatings.
采用表面引发原子转移自由基聚合反应，从纤维素纳米晶体（CNC）接枝疏水性聚丙烯酸丁酯，得到了可相容的CNC，这些CNC成功地被纳入聚合物胶乳颗粒的核心内部。CNC是源自可再生资源的各向异性纳米颗粒，在纳米复合材料中具有作为增强剂的潜力。然而，由于纤维素与疏水性聚合物之间的不相容性以及诸如聚集等加工困难，限制了迄今为止所生产的CNC纳米复合材料的性能。在此，通过将聚合物接枝的CNC添加到单体相中，将CNC纳入甲基丙烯酸甲酯的细乳液聚合反应中。随后原位制备了聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯-CNC纳米复合胶乳，通过透射电子显微镜观察表明，聚合物接枝的CNC（具有优化的接枝长度）位于胶乳颗粒内部。这项工作提供了一种控制CNC在基于胶乳的纳米复合材料中位置的方法，并且可能会扩大CNC在商业粘合剂和涂料中的应用。
