Macroscopic beads of water-based gels consisting of uncharged and partially charged beta-(1,4)-D-glucan polymers were developed to be used as a novel model material for studying the water induced swelling of the delignified plant fiber walls. The gel beads were prepared by drop-wise precipitation of solutions of dissolving grade fibers carboxymethylated to different degrees. The internal structure was analyzed using Solid State Cross-Polarization Magic Angle Spinning Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Small Angle X-ray Scattering showing that the internal structure could be considered a homogeneous, non-crystalline and molecularly dispersed polymer network. When beads with different charge densities were equilibrated with aqueous solutions of different ionic strengths and/or pH, the change in water uptake followed the trends expected for weak polyelectrolyte gels and the trends found for cellulose-rich fibers. When dried and subsequently immersed in water the beads also showed an irreversible loss of swelling depending on the charge and type of counter-ion which is commonly also found for cellulose-rich fibers. Taken all these results together it is clear that the model cellulose-based beads constitute an excellent tool for studying the fundamentals of swelling of cellulose rich plant fibers, aiding in the elucidation of the different molecular and supramolecular contributions to the swelling.

Nanoscale building blocks of many materials exhibit extraordinary mechanical properties due to their defect-free molecular structure. Translation of these high mechanical properties to macroscopic materials represents a difficult materials engineering challenge due to the necessity to organize these building blocks into multiscale patterns and mitigate defects emerging at larger scales. Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), the most abundant structural element in living systems, has impressively high strength and stiffness, but natural or artificial cellulose composites are 3-15 times weaker than the CNFs. Here, we report the flow-assisted organization of CNFs into macroscale fibers with nearly perfect unidirectional alignment. Efficient stress transfer from macroscale to individual CNF due to cross-linking and high degree of order enables their Young's modulus to reach up to 86 GPa and a tensile strength of 1.57 GPa, exceeding the mechanical properties of known natural or synthetic biopolymeric materials. The specific strength of our CNF fibers engineered at multiscale also exceeds that of metals, alloys, and glass fibers, enhancing the potential of sustainable lightweight high-performance materials with multiscale self-organization.

Herein, we present a route to obtain bi-functional cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) by a one-pot approach using an already established functionalisation route, carboxymethylation, to which a subsequent functionalisation step, allylation or alkynation, has been added in the same reaction pot, eliminating the need of solvent exchange procedures. The total charge of the fibres and the total surface charge of the nanofibrils were determined by conductometric and polyelectrolyte titration, respectively. Furthermore, the allyl and alkyne functionalised cellulose were reacted with methyl 3-mercaptopropionate and azide-functionalised disperse red, respectively, to estimate the degree of functionalisation. The samples were further assessed by XPS and FT-IR. Physical characteristics were evaluated by CP/MAS C-13-NMR, XRD, AFM and DLS. This new approach of obtaining bi-functionalised CNF allows for a facile and rapid functionalisation of CNF where chemical handles can easily be attached and used for further modification of the fibrils.

Poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) is a ductile thermoplastic, which is biodegradable in the marine environment. Limitations include low strength, petroleum-based origin, and comparably high cost. Cellulose fiber reinforcement is therefore of interest although uniform fiber dispersion is a challenge. In this study, a one-step wet compounding is proposed to validate a sustainable and feasible method to improve the dispersion of the cellulose fibers in hydrophobic polymer matrix as PCL, which showed to be insensitive to the presence of the water during the processing. A comparison between unmodified and acetylated cellulosic wood fibers is made to further assess the net effect of the wet feeding and chemical modification on the biocomposites properties, and the influence of acetylation on fiber structure is reported (ATR-FTIR, XRD). Effects of processing on nano fibrillation, shortening, and dispersion of the cellulose fibers are assessed as well as on PCL molar mass. Mechanical testing, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, FE-SEM, and X-ray tomography is used to characterize composites. With the addition of 20 wt % cellulosic fibers, the Young's modulus increased from 240 MPa (neat PCL) to 1850 MPa for the biocomposites produced by using the wet feeding strategy, compared to 690 MPa showed for the biocomposites produced using dry feeling. A wet feeding of acetylated cellulosic fibers allowed even a greater increase, with an additional 46% and 248% increase of the ultimate strength and Young's modulus, when compared to wet feeding of the unmodified pulp, respectively.

By combining H-2-NMRD and CP/MAS C-13-NMR measurements of water-based cellulose gels and of water swollen pulps it was possible to estimate the nature of the interior structure of cellulose fibril aggregates. A set of samples with high cellulose purity and low charge was used. The interpretation of data was based on a relaxation model describing the exchange dynamics for deuterium exchange between water molecules and cellulose hydroxyl groups. The theoretical model used made it possible to calculate cellulose surface-to-volume ratios (q-values) from both H-2-NMRD and CP/MAS C-13-NMR data. Good consistency between H-2-NMRD and CP/MAS C-13-NMR data was found. In all investigated samples the cellulose fibril aggregates showed a different degree of "openness" interpreted as the presence of interstitial water inside fibril aggregates. One result also showed that an increased degree of fibril aggregate openness results from the TEMPO-oxidation. Common to all samples was that in the water swollen state water molecules could access part of the fibril aggregate interior.

Background: The efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis is reduced by the structural properties of cellulose. Although efforts have been made to explain the mechanism of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose by considering the interaction of cellulolytic enzymes with cellulose or the changes in the structure of cellulose during enzymatic hydrolysis, the process of cellulose hydrolysis is not yet fully understood. We have analysed the characteristics of the complex supramolecular structure of cellulose on the nanometre scale in terms of the spatial distribution of fibrils and fibril aggregates, the accessible surface area and the crystallinity during enzymatic hydrolysis. Influence of the porosity of the substrates and the hydrolysability was also investigated. All cellulosic substrates used in this study contained more than 96% cellulose. Results: Conversion yields of six cellulosic substrates were as follows, in descending order: nano-crystalline cellulose produced from never-dried soda pulp (NCC-OPHS-ND) > never-dried soda pulp (OPHS-ND) > dried soda pulp (OPHS-D) > Avicel > cotton treated with sodium hydroxide (cotton + NaOH) > cotton. Conclusions: No significant correlations were observed between the yield of conversion and supramolecular characteristics, such as specific surface area (SSA) and lateral fibril dimensions (LFD). A strong correlation was found between the average pore size of the starting material and the enzymatic conversion yield. The degree of crystallinity was maintained during enzymatic hydrolysis of the cellulosic substrates, contradicting previous explanations of the increasing crystallinity of cellulose during enzymatic hydrolysis. Both acid and enzymatic hydrolysis can increase the LFD, but no plausible mechanisms could be identified. The sample with the highest initial degree of crystallinity, NCC-OPHS-ND, exhibited the highest conversion yield, but this was not accompanied by any change in LFD, indicating that the hydrolysis mechanism is not based on lateral erosion.

Structural changes of fibrils and fibril aggregates in the fibre wall were studied after oxidation of the cellulose by 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy to high charge densities (highest charge density: 1300 mu eq/g). The increase in pore volume was measured by mini-WRV at two different pH levels, and the supramolecular structure in the fibre wall in terms of aggregate size, specific surface area and average pore size was measured by solid state NMR, DVS desorption and BET N-2 gas adsorption. A structural change in the arrangement of the fibrils inside the fibril aggregates was observed although the oxidation did not lead to a complete liberation of individual fibrils, i.e. they still exist as an aggregated structure after oxidation. Theoretical estimates suggest that the electrostatic repulsion energy connected with the increase in surface charge of the fibrils can be sufficient to gradually separate the fibrils enough to expose all fibril surfaces to oxidation chemicals.

In this study, surface-initiated ring-opening polymerization has been employed for the grafting of epsilon-caprolactone from cellulose nanoparticles, made by partial hydrolysis of cellulose cotton linters. A sacrificial initiator was employed during the grafting reactions, to form free polymer in parallel to the grafting reaction. The degree of polymerization of the polymer grafts, and of the free polymer, was varied by varying the reaction time. The aim of this study was to estimate the cellulose nanoparticle degree of surface substitution at different reaction times. This was accomplished by combining measurement results from spectroscopy and chromatography. The prepared cellulose nanoparticles were shown to have 3.1 (+/- 0.3) % of the total anhydroglucose unit content present at the cellulose nanoparticle surfaces. This effectively limits the amount of cellulose that can be targeted by the SI-ROP reactions. For a certain SI-ROP reaction time, it was assumed that the resulting degree of polymerization (DP) of the grafts and the DP of the free polymer were equal. Based on this assumption it was shown that the cellulose nanoparticle surface degree of substitution remained approximately constant (3-7 %) and seemingly independent of SI-ROP reaction time. We believe this work to be an important step towards a deeper understanding of the processes and properties controlling SI-ROP reactions occurring at cellulose surfaces.

We demonstrate how to prepare extraordinarily deformable, gas-filled, spherical capsules from nonmodified cellulose. These capsules have a low nominal density, ranging from 7.6 to 14.2 kg/m(3), and can be deformed elastically to 70% deformation at 50% relative humidity. No compressive strain-at-break could be detected for these dry cellulose capsules, since they did not rupture even when compressed into a disk with pockets of highly compressed air. A quantitative constitutive model for the large deformation compression of these capsules is derived, including their high-frequency mechanical response and their low-frequency force relaxation, where the latter is governed by the gas barrier properties of the dry capsule. Mechanical testing corroborated these models with good accuracy. Force relaxation measurements at a constant compression rendered an estimate for the gas permeability of air through the capsule wall, calculated to 0.4 mL mu m/m(2) days kPa at 50% relative humidity. These properties taken together open up a large application area for the capsules, and they could most likely be used for applications in compressible, lightweight materials and also constitute excellent model materials for adsorption and adhesion studies.