OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT BIOCOMPOSITES: POLYMETHYLMETHACRYLATE REINFORCED WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE CHITIN NANOFIBERS

Doubly curved nanofiber-reinforced optically transparent composites

Doubly curved nanofiber-reinforced optically transparent composites with low thermal expansion of 15 ppm/k are prepared by hot pressing vacuum-filtered Pickering emulsions of hydrophobic acrylic resin monomer, hydrophilic chitin nanofibers and water. The coalescence of acrylic monomer droplets in the emulsion is prevented by the chitin nanofibers network. This transparent composite has 3D shape...

Chitin Nanofibers, Preparations and Applications

Chitin nanofibers (CNFs) are mainly extracted from crab and prawn shells [1, 2] and recetly found in small amount in edible species of mushrooms [3]. CNFs are composed of chitin compound. Chitin in powder form is obtained from fish industry wastes which is otherwise thrown as industrial waste. Since CNFs are biodegradable having typical width 10-20 nm and large surface-to-mass ratio thus they a...

Nanofibers Reinforced Polymer Composite Microstructures

Superhard semiconducting optically transparent high pressure phase of boron.

An orthorhombic (space group Pnnm) boron phase was synthesized at pressures above 9 GPa and high temperature, and it was demonstrated to be stable at least up to 30 GPa. The structure, determined by single-crystal x-ray diffraction, consists of B12 icosahedra and B2 dumbbells. The charge density distribution obtained from experimental data and ab initio calculations suggests covalent chemical b...

Preparation of Chitin Nanofibers from Mushrooms

Chitin nanofibers were isolated from the cell walls of five different types of mushrooms by the removal of glucans, minerals, and proteins, followed by a simple grinding treatment under acidic conditions. The Chitin nanofibers thus obtained have a uniform structure and a long fiber length. The width of the nanofibers depended on the type of mushrooms and varied in the range 20 to 28 nm. The Chi...