Abstract
Sustainable functional materials derived from renewable biomass provide momentum for the communities of polymer science. We report a supramolecular approach to the preparation of strong biobased polymer nanocomposites with stimuli-responsive behaviors using soybean oil (SO) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). SO-derived polymers were modified with hydroxyl -OH and carboxyl -COOH groups via thiol-ene click chemistry, facilitating hydrogen-bonding interactions with CNCs to improve the overall compatibility in the nanocomposites. These nanocomposites exhibited high tensile strength and maintained high storage modulus up to 200 °C. Moreover, these nanocomposites showed a fast and reversible mechanical response to water, an external stimulus to tune intermolecular hydrogen bonding.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 7475-7483 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Macromolecules |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 19 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 10 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Z. Wang thanks the National Science Foundation of China for financial support (Grants 51603002 and 51773001). Support from the National Science Foundation (DMR-1252611) is acknowledged.