The renewability, biocompatibility and good mechanical properties of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have made CNCs an attractive material for numerous composite, biomedical and rheological applications. However for CNCs to shift from laboratories to commercial applications researchers must transition from CNCs extracted in house to material produced at an industrial scale. The variety of cellulose sources, hydrolysis methods and purification procedures associated with the recent intensification of industrially produced CNCs makes characterization of these materials critical as indicated by the past two decades of research which demonstrate that CNC stability and behaviour is highly dependent on surface chemistry, surface charge density and particle shape. This work outlines key characterization methods that should be employed to ensure CNCs produced both in the laboratory and at the industrial scale will perform consistently in a variety of applications.

Benchmarking cellulose nanocrystals from various sources

251st National Meeting (2016)

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