The interest for use of nanocelluloses as reinforcing building-blocks in polymers composites is constantly increasing mainly due to their exceptional mechanical properties. The high number of reactive hydroxyl groups (-OH) available on the surfaces of such nanomaterials make them highly prone to chemical functionalization, which increases their compatibility with varied polymers matrices and allows for the development of materials with specific functionality as anti-microbial properties.<br/>In this work, we demonstrated how to prepare high-cellulose-content inks to achieve successful 3D printing of cellular-structured hydrogels. The effects of high concentration of CNC within the mixtures on the rheological properties of inks as well as on the final mechanical properties of the printed materials were evaluated. The alignment of CNC proven by 2D WAXS measurements showed that a high degree of ordering (up to 86 %) was achieved by combining the right printing parameters and ink composition. The anisotropic swelling of the printed hydrogels could be correlated to the alignment of anisotropic cellulose particles.<br/>Our approach can be utilized by a great variety of monomers and therefore hydrogels with complex shapes and programmable reinforcement can be envisaged without the need of extra inorganic and/or synthetic rheological modifiers. By introducing anti-microbial properties to the hydrogels, it was possible to broaden their applications in biomedical fields.

3D printing functional nanocellulose hydrogels

255th National Meeting (2018)

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