Structuring of sol-gel functionalised cellulose hybrid materials and their characterization : doctoral dissertation

english

doktorska dela

2012

Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za strojništvo

The goal of this thesis is the structuring of cellulose nanocrystals using different organofunctional silane compounds and different cationic species to prepare highly functional materials with tailored properties. In addition different new aspects and approaches for the structural characterization of functionalised cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) functionalised with different organofunctionalalkoxysilanes as well as cationic species have been introduced. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) are prepared using three different acidic conditions to hydrolyse microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). The sulphuricacid hydrolysis introduces highly negative charged sulphate groups onthe CNC. The aqueous nanocrystalline cellulose suspensions (aNCS) are analysed in terms of ?-potential related to the pH and concentration to investigate the stability while dynamic light scattering (DLS) is used to investigate the size distribution. The hydrochloric acid hydrolysis in contrast only removes the amorphous regions but the so obtained CNC are less stabilized (decreased ?-potential) and tend to agglomerate very fast. The use of the mixture of both acids (HCl and H2SO4) during the hydrolysis of MCC introduces less sulphate groups compared with the sulphuric acid hydrolysis. AFM investigations show that the shapes of the CNC are highly influenced by the hydrolysis conditions. While the shape of the H2SO4 hydrolysed CNC is rod like, while the shape of the other two CNC samples is more spherical in nature. One of the major topic in this work is the analysis of aNCS in aqueoussolutions by small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). The use of the generalized indirect Fourier transformation (GIFT) method allows the analysis of these systems and structural properties such as shape, size and surface charge of aNCS can be assessed. Using this kind of characterisation it can be seen that the shape of the H2SO4 hydrolysed CNC is definitely rod like while the other CNC sample can be described with spheres. In addition to the aNCS characterisation different substrates (Si-wafer, glass slides, polystyrene, etc.) are equipped with aNCS using a variety of different deposition methods (e.g. spin coating, solution casting, dip coating). The resulting films are studied in terms of morphology AFM, SARFUS and SEM. Sophisticated scattering techniques are employed for surface structural characterisation as grazing incidence small angel x-ray scattering. The determination of surface free energies allows conclusions about the hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity as well as the interaction capacity with different liquids. It can be seen that besides the hydrophilic nature of the CNC also hydrophobic interactions are present. The highly negative charged CNC sample which was prepared using sulphuric acid hydrolysis is found to be best suitable for the further hybridization with different organofunctional silanes and for the layer by layer approach (LBL) with different cationic species. The organofunctionalalkoxysilanes which were used in this study can be divided into three groups (e.g filler, surface functionalisation silanes, cross linking silanes). Depending on the nature of the organic residue the silanes are capable to introduce functionalities with enhanced hydrophobic and olephobic properties. The surface energies are investigated using contact angle method, while the surface energies are calculated using three different model approaches (OWRK, Wu, Acid-Base). The most increased hydrophobic and oleophobic properties were measured for trimethylfluorophenylsilantriol (PFTEOS). The morphology of the coated silanes is investigated using SAFRUS technique. It can be seen that nearly all silanes can be coated as homogeneousfilms onto different substrates (Si-wafer, SURFs, glass slides) with different methods (spin coating, solution casting). The macroscopic appearance of solution casted silanes is investigated using optical microscopy. The differences of the structural nature of the so obtained coatings and detaching films were investigated.

08.08.2023