Cellulose-based materials are interesting due to the inherent properties of cellulose. However, in composite applications surface modification is often required due to the polar character of cellulose and the often non-polar matrix. In this work, surface initiated ring-opening polymerization of ?-caprolactone was conducted from two substrates; nanopaper prepared from nanofibrillar cellulose and filter paper (Whatman #1). The nanopaper is porous with a larger surface area and, hence, a larger number of hydroxyl groups available for surface modification compared to the filter paper. The polymerization was catalyzed by the recently developed titanium n-butoxide (Ti(On-Bu)4), which has proven to be an efficient catalyst for ROP, less sensitive to air than the more commonly used tin octoate. The polymerizations were conducted at elevated temperatures; either by conventional heating or by micro-wave irradiation. The synthesized polymers were characterized using 1H-NMR and SEC, and the biocomposites by DSC, FT-IR, FE-SEM, BET and DMA.

Synthesis and characterization of biocomposites from cellulose nano- and filter papers prepared by ring-opening polymerization of ?-caprolactone with titanium based catalyst

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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