Schnabl Kordula B, Mandemaker Laurens D B, Nierop Klaas G J, Deen Olivier V B, Eefting Desmond D, Vollmer Ina, Weckhuysen Bert M
Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis Group Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science and Institute for Sustainable and Circular Chemistry, Utrecht University, Universiteitsweg 99, 3584 CG, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
GeoLab, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8, 3584 CB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
ChemSusChem. 2023 Oct 20;16(20):e202300585. doi: 10.1002/cssc.202300585. Epub 2023 Sep 5.
To switch to alternatives for fossil-fuel-based polymer materials, renewable raw materials from green resources should be utilized. Chitosan is such a material that is a strong, but workable derivative from chitin, obtained from crustaceans. However, various applications ask for specific plastic properties, such as certain flexibility, hardness and transparency. With different additives, also obtainable from green resources, chitosan-based composites in the form of self-supporting films, ranging from very hard and brittle to soft and flexible were successfully produced. The additives turned out to belong to one of three categories, namely linear, non-linear, or crosslinking additives. The non-linear additives could only be taken up to a certain relative amount, whereas the uptake of linear additives was not limited within the range of our experiments. Additives with multiple functional groups tend to crosslink chitosan even at room temperature in an acidic medium. Finally, it was shown that dissolving the chitosan in acetic acid and subsequently drying the matrix as a film results in reacetylation compared to the starting chitosan source, resulting in a harder material. With these findings, it is possible to tune the properties of chitosan-based polymer materials, making a big step towards application of this renewable polymer within consumer goods.
为了转向替代基于化石燃料的聚合物材料，应利用来自绿色资源的可再生原材料。壳聚糖就是这样一种材料，它是一种从甲壳类动物中提取的几丁质的强大但可行的衍生物。然而，各种应用需要特定的塑料性能，如一定的柔韧性、硬度和透明度。通过同样可从绿色资源中获得的不同添加剂，成功制备了自支撑膜形式的壳聚糖基复合材料，其硬度和脆性从非常硬到软且柔韧不等。结果表明，这些添加剂属于三类之一，即线性、非线性或交联添加剂。非线性添加剂只能加入到一定的相对量，而线性添加剂的加入量在我们的实验范围内没有限制。具有多个官能团的添加剂即使在室温下于酸性介质中也倾向于使壳聚糖交联。最后，结果表明，将壳聚糖溶解在乙酸中，随后将基质干燥成膜，与起始壳聚糖源相比会导致再乙酰化，从而得到更硬的材料。基于这些发现，可以调整壳聚糖基聚合物材料的性能，朝着这种可再生聚合物在消费品中的应用迈出了一大步。
