As cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer in plant biomass, selective acid hydrolysis of plant biomass can yield biocompatible, renewable cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). CNCs feature a large surface area, high aspect ratio, and a substantial capacity for surface chemical modification. CNCs have outstanding mechanical strength for bearing loads from external environments, with a modulus of 50-200 GPa. Therefore, incorporating CNCs into a nanocomposite matrix can potentially result in outstanding mechanical behaviors of the nanocomposites. In this study, plant biomass-derived CNCs will be used as reinforcing fillers in the nanocomposite matrix of soy protein and recombinant spidroin-amyloid-mussel foot protein as a potential candidate for food packaging or bio-adhesive applications. Nanocomposites of CNCs and CNCs with surface coating (i.e., polydopamine coating) designed to leverage intermolecular interactions with protein matrices can be used to understand the CNC surface effect. The resultant polydopamine-coated CNC-protein nanocomposites were shown to have enhanced Young’s modulus and tensile strength due to the intermolecular interactions that can modify protein properties. Mechanical modeling of the nanocomposites was applied to explain the reinforcing behavior of the surface-modified CNCs based on the tensile testing data of the nanocomposites.

Synthesis of biocompatible, renewable protein nanocomposites reinforced by surface-modified cellulose nanocrystals

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