Chen Jingqian, Tian Jing, Feng Nianjie, Ning Like, Wang Dong, Zhao Bin, Guo Tianyu, Song Junlong, Rojas Orlando J
Bioproducts Institute, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of British Columbia, 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources and International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China.
Small. 2024 Aug;20(34):e2309756. doi: 10.1002/smll.202309756. Epub 2024 Apr 11.
Control over particle size and shape heterogeneity is highly relevant to the design of photonic coatings and supracolloidal assemblies. Most developments in the area have relied on mineral and petroleum-derived polymers that achieve well-defined chemical and dimensional characteristics. Unfortunately, it is challenging to attain such control when considering renewable nanoparticles. Herein, a pathway toward selectable biobased particle size and physicochemical profiles is proposed. Specifically, lignin is fractionated, a widely available heterogeneous polymer that can be dissolved in aqueous solution, to obtain a variety of monodispersed particle fractions. A two-stage cascade and density gradient centrifugation that relieves the need for solvent pre-extraction or other pretreatments but achieves particle bins of uniform size (~60 to 860 nm and polydispersity, PDI<0.06, dynamic light scattering) along with characteristic surface chemical features is introduced. It is found that the properties and associated colloidal behavior of the particles are suitably classified in distinctive size populations, namely, i) nanoscale (50-100 nm), ii) photonic (100-300 nm) and iii) near-micron (300-1000 nm). The strong correlation that exists between size and physicochemical characteristics (molar mass, surface charge, bonding and functional groups, among others) is introduced as a powerful pathway to identify nanotechnological uses that benefit from the functionality and cost-effectiveness of biogenic particles.
对颗粒尺寸和形状异质性的控制与光子涂层和超胶体组件的设计高度相关。该领域的大多数进展都依赖于矿物和石油衍生的聚合物，这些聚合物具有明确的化学和尺寸特征。不幸的是，在考虑可再生纳米颗粒时，实现这种控制具有挑战性。在此，提出了一种实现可选择的生物基颗粒尺寸和物理化学特性的途径。具体而言，对木质素进行分级分离，木质素是一种广泛存在的多相聚合物，可溶于水溶液，以获得各种单分散颗粒级分。引入了一种两级级联和密度梯度离心法，该方法无需溶剂预萃取或其他预处理，但可实现尺寸均匀（约60至860 nm，多分散性，PDI<0.06，动态光散射）且具有特征表面化学特征的颗粒分级。研究发现，颗粒的性质和相关胶体行为在不同的尺寸群体中得到了适当的分类，即：i）纳米级（50-100 nm），ii）光子级（100-300 nm）和iii）近微米级（300-1000 nm）。尺寸与物理化学特性（摩尔质量、表面电荷、键合和官能团等）之间存在的强相关性被引入，作为一种强大的途径，以识别受益于生物源颗粒功能和成本效益的纳米技术用途。
