Skip to main content

Cellulose Nanocrystal and Its Applications

Nanocellulose is a term referring to nano-structured cellulose. This may be either cellulose nanocrystal (CNC or NCC), cellulose nanofibers (CNF) also called microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), or bacterial nanocellulose, which refers to nano-structured cellulose produced by bacteria.
Cellulose Nanocrystal (Nanocrystalline Cellulose) has interesting mechanical properties for use in material applications. Its tensile strength is about 500MPa similar to that of aluminum. Nanocrystalline cellulose's stiffness is about 140–220 GPa, comparable with that of Kevlar and better than that of glass fiber, both of which are used commercially to reinforce plastics. Films made from nanocellulose have high strength, high stiffness and high strain. Nanocrystalline cellulose's strength/weight ratio is 8 times that of stainless steel. Fibers made from nanocellulose have high strength up to 1.57 GPa and stiffness up to 86 GPa.
Cellulose nanocrystal as nanofiller has been a focus of attention as it exhibits attractive advantages such as low cost, low density, better uniformity and durability, and biodegradability. The high strength and stiffness as well as the small dimensions of cellulose nanocrystal may well impart useful properties to composite materials reinforced with these fibers, which could subsequently be used in wide range of applications. The versatility and adaptability of bionanocomposites enable these nanocrystalline cellulose-based materials to be utilized for biomedical applications. Given that one of the characteristics of medical biomaterials is biocompatibility, or the ability to function properly in the human body to produce the desired clinical outcome without causing adverse effect, cellulose nanocrystal as a bioderived material can be a promising biomaterial.
Now let's look at usage of nanocrystalline cellulose-based composites in biomedical applications. Cellulose Nanocrystal (Nanocrystalline Cellulose) is called the eye of biomaterial, and is highly applicable to the biomedical industry, including in drug release systems, scaffolds for tissue engineering, skin replacements for burns and wounds, stent coverings and bone reconstruction nerves, gum and duramater reconstruction, and blood vessel growth. Several attractive characteristics of cellulose nanocrystals have made it favorable for this application, such as low production cost as compared to biopolymers, abundance, obtained from sustainable source, nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and excellent mechanical properties. Furthermore, since it is present in nanoscale, cellulose nanocrystal possesses high surface area, which presents broad possibilities for chemical modifications.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Carbon Nanotube Threads

Since its discovery, carbon nanotube (CNT) has attracted many interests in different technology fields due to its extraordinary properties. Properties such as, high strength, great electrical and thermal conductivity, light weight and flexibility made CNT one of the best materials for wide range of applications. However, from its name it can be understood that CNT is a nanoscale material which is very small to be applied for the production of daily products. Researchers all around the world are working on finding methods and techniques which could produce new materials with the extraordinary properties of CNT. Image retrieved from:  https://worldindustrialreporter.com/strong-light-flexible-carbon-nanotubes-threads-with-ultrahigh-conductivity/ One of these research is focusing on the production of high strength threads that can be used in the manufacturing of fabrics, cables and ropes. An international group of scientists were able to produce a flexible conductive thread th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Multi Walled Carbon Nanotube Dispersions

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)  have attracted enormous attention in recent years due to its unique physical, electronic, optical and potential applications in materials science and nanotechnology. The van der Waals interaction between tubes, however, makes CNTs aggregate in most organic solvents and aqueous solutions, which is the major limitation of their practical applications.Various approaches have been studied to alter the CNT surface to promote the dispersion of individual nanotubes and prevent their reaggregation. On the basis of this widely accepted viewpoint, numerous techniques such as covalent bonding, surfactant coating and polymer wrapping have been developed for surface modification or sidewall functionalization.These methods, however, are complicated, time-consuming and cause permanent damage to the CNT structure and properties of the surface, which produces residues of the dispersion agent for the final product. Figure: Single Walled Carbon Nanotube (SWCNT) It ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Applications

General Information about Magnesium Oxide Magnesium oxide which has the chemical formula of MgO, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of Magnesium. It is a white powder at room temperature. Magnesium Oxide has very high melting point (2825  o C) and boiling point (3600  o C).                                                                                                                                                                                Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder an...
Post a Comment
Read more