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Enhancement of the mechanical properties of polysaccharide composite films utilizing cellulose nanofibers

Polymer Journal volume 52, pages 645–653 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

We have demonstrated that free-standing films with thicknesses of several tens of micrometers made from chondroitin sulfate C (CS) and chitosan (CHI) are readily obtained by utilizing the hot press technique. To improve the mechanical properties of the polysaccharide composite films, especially in the wet state, we investigated the incorporation of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) in the films as a nanofiller in the present study. CNFs were homogeneously incorporated into polyion complex (PIC) gels under optimized conditions. The CNF-incorporated films were evaluated morphologically and spectroscopically by optical and electron microscopy and infrared microscopy; the results indicated that there were micrometer-scale domains in the CNF-incorporated films. The mechanical properties of the CNF-incorporated films were also investigated in the dried and wet states. Especially in the wet state, the Young’s moduli were effectively enhanced with an increased weight fraction of CNFs in the films. The mechanism of the filler effects was determined in terms of the dependency of the CNF content on the mechanical properties of the films. The results indicated that the nonionic nanofillers were incorporated with minimum influences on polysaccharide PIC formation, which contributed to the effective enhancement of film strength.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) from MEXT, Japan (16K05799 and 19K05588 to MH). We thank Prof Takeshi Kawai (Tokyo University of Science) for the rheological analysis.

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  1. Kazutoshi Iijima

    Present address: Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, 240-8501, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo University of Science, 12-1 Ichigayafunagawara-machi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-0826, Japan

    Yusuke Yataka, Ayami Suzuki, Kazutoshi Iijima & Mineo Hashizume

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  1. Yusuke Yataka
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Correspondence to Mineo Hashizume.

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Yataka, Y., Suzuki, A., Iijima, K. et al. Enhancement of the mechanical properties of polysaccharide composite films utilizing cellulose nanofibers. Polym J 52, 645–653 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-020-0311-3

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