In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the development of strong and versatile hydrogel networks for applications in various fields from biomedical engineering to robotics. The development of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) with high anisotropy, crystallinity and easily modifiable surface chemistry allows them to form self-standing networks at very low solid content. Therefore, CNFs appear to be an interesting base material for such applications. Nevertheless, these hydrogels are fragile and cannot withstand the mechanical stress induced in many of these applications. In this project the CNFs were surface-modified with methacrylic acid groups to allow for a subsequent self-crosslinking.This was also combined with a control of the structure of the network using directional freezing followed by in-situ polymerization. A second polymer network could then be integrated with this structure, adding mechanical strength and toughness to the material. This technique can further on be used with CNFs modified with different functional groups to match the second polymer network depending of the end application.

Nanocellulose-based double network hydrogels

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.