Combination of cellulose and plant oil toward sustainable bottlebrush copolymer elastomers with tunable mechanical performance.

Hanqing Yu, Jiajun Feng, Pengfei Tang, Shuaishuai Chen, Zhiqiang Wang, Zhongkai Wang, Feng Jiang

International journal of biological macromolecules 2022 Jun 01

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In this work, sustainable cellulose-g-poly(lauryl acrylate-co-acrylamide) [Cell-g-P(LA-co-AM)] bottlebrush copolymer elastomers derived from cellulose and plant oil were synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) results indicate that these thermally stable Cell-g-P(LA-co-AM) bottlebrush copolymer elastomers show adjustable melting temperatures. Monotonic and cyclic tensile tests suggest that the mechanical properties, including tensile strength, extensibility, Young's modulus, and elasticity, can be conveniently controlled by changing the LA/AM feed ratio and cellulose content. In such kind of bottlebrush copolymer elastomers, the rigid cellulose backbones act as cross-linking points to provide tensile strength. The incorporated PAM segments can form additional network structure via hydrogen bonding, resulting in enhanced tensile strength but decreased extensibility when more PAM segments are introduced. This versatile strategy can promote the development of sustainable cellulose-based bottlebrush copolymer elastomers from renewable resources. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Hanqing Yu, Jiajun Feng, Pengfei Tang, Shuaishuai Chen, Zhiqiang Wang, Zhongkai Wang, Feng Jiang. Combination of cellulose and plant oil toward sustainable bottlebrush copolymer elastomers with tunable mechanical performance. International journal of biological macromolecules. 2022 Jun 01;209(Pt B):1848-1857