2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Characterization and performance improvement of tough hydrogels based on cellulose and chitin nanofibers
| Project/Area Number |
23780185
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Wood science
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
ABE Kentaro 京都大学, 生存圏研究所, 助教 (20402935)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2011 – 2012
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| Keywords | セルロース / キチン / ナノファイバー / ゲル / 高強度 |
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| Research Abstract |
Cellulose and chitin exist in nature as highly crystalline nanofibers. First, this study prepared the hydrogels from an aqueous suspension of cellulose nanofibers only by NaOH treatment. The nanofiber suspensions were converted into two kinds of hydrogels with different crystal forms in response to the increasing concentration of NaOH. When treated in 6-9 wt% NaOH, a hydrogel was formed by aggregating the nanofibers with the original morphology and the original crystal form. However, the hydrogel prepared at 15 wt% NaOH had a network formed by the interdigitation of nanofibers and exhibited a highly crystalline cellulose II structure. This method can be applied to chitin nanofibers. In the case of chitins, the use of ethanol voided the dissolution during neutralization and enabled the preparation of a higher strength hydrogel. These unique hydrogels are expected to further expand the application area of natural polymer hydrogels by capturing the features of crystalline networks.
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