Amanda Williams, University of South Carolina, 2012 SURF Fellow Advisor: Prof. Hamid Garmestani Graduate Mentor: Parisa Pooyan Introduction Many biopolymers in place today lack native biomechanical characteristics of the target tissue and are mechanically and thermally unstable. A suggested material to combat these issues is a composite material made of a biopolymer matrix with a reinforcing ag...

carboxymethyl cellulose (cmc)-polyvinyl alcohol (pvoh) blend film, containing 0-10% cellulose nanowhiskers (cnw), was produced through casting method, while physical properties of the films being investigated. cmc-pvoh-cnw nanocomposites, were prepared with a diluted suspension of cellulose nanowhiskers. nanowhiskers suspension was prepared through acid hydrolysis of cotton linter by sulfuric a...

Attempts to create hierarchically structured, uniaxially oriented nanocomposites comprising cellulose nanowhiskers (CNWs), which promise anisotropic mechanical properties, are exceedingly rare. We report here the fabrication of uniaxially-oriented arrays of microfibers based on poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and CNWs by electrospinning. Compared with the neat PEO fibers, the incorporation of CNWs w...

carboxymethyl cellulose (cmc)-polyvinyl alcohol (pvoh) blend film was produced through casting. cellulose nanowhisker (cnw) was produced by means of acid hydrolysis of cotton linter and cmc-pvoh-cellulose nanowhiskers through which fully degradable bionanocomposites were prepared. prepared nanowhisker suspension contained rod like particles averaging lengths of 240 nm and diameters of 13 nm. an...

Due to the ever-increasing global demand for materials, international dependence on conventional petroleum resources and environmental concerns, there is considerable interest in the development of alternative and sustainable products, manufactured by green technologies. In an effort to address these challenges, cellulose, the most globally abundant naturally occurring polymer has attracted sig...

Self organization of the kinesin-microtubule system was implemented as a novel template to create percolated nanofiber networks. Asters of microtubule seeds were immobilized on glass surfaces and their growth was recorded over time. The individual aster islands became interconnected as microtubules grew and overlapped, resulting in a highly percolated network. Cellulose nanowhiskers were used t...

Abstract The self-assembly of cellulose nanowhiskers (CNWs) in confined geometries provides a powerful method for the fabrication novel structures. Herein, ordered honeycomb microporous films were first prepared with surface-acylated CNWs (CNWs-SU) through breath figure method. Resulting showed highly porous order over large regions and iridescent color was only displayed by their rims, which i...

Abstract Aiming at biomedical applications, the present work developed a new bio‐nanocomposite fibrous mat based on natural rubber (NR) reinforced with 45S5 bioglass particles (BG) and cellulose nanowhiskers (CNW), which reveals excellent mechanical properties, good biocompatibility bioactivity properties. Analyses of specimens were conducted by means morphological observations (SEM) thermal an...

BACKGROUND Polylactic acid (PLA) is considered to be a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based polymers for many applications. Using cellulose fiber to reinforce PLA is of great interest recently due to its complete biodegradability and potential improvement of the mechanical performance. However, the dispersion of hydrophilic cellulose fibers in the hydrophobic polymer matrix is usually poo...