Development of Advanced Functional Biomaterials

Abstract

The goal of this study was to develop novel ionic liquids (ILs) for the Natural Fiber Welding (NFW) process and use them to make advanced functional biocomposite materials with improved mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties. In this project, we synthesized three different classes of ILs containing either aromatic cations, cyclic (non-aromatic) cations, or polymerizable cations. These ILs were prepared to (i) evaluate their potential as novel NFW solvents to disrupt and reorganize biopolymer matrices, (ii) test their ability to polymerize ex-situ, and (iii) fiber-weld and subsequently polymerize within a biopolymer material to generate polyionic biocomposites. After synthesizing nine different ILs and confirming their structure with nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopies, we evaluated their welding potential through confocal fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. These data confirmed that each class of ILs were viable NFW solvents. In this effort, we also developed a powerful, new method using atomic force microscopy (AFM) to map the nanomechanical properties of fiber-welded biomaterials. While evaluating each ILs ability to polymerize ex-situ, we discovered that the acetate anion inhibits polymerization of acetate based polymerizable-ILs (poly-ILs). However, poly-ILs with chloride anions could be polymerized using either photo or thermal initiators. We then synthesized a polyionic biocomposite containing 1-ethyl-3-vinylimidazolium chloride and microcrystalline cellulose within a welded cotton matrix. Our novel results show that poly-ILs can be applied to the NFW process to fabricate advanced fiber-welded polyionic biocomposites. Due to the ionic character added by embedding poly-ILs within a biopolymer material (e.g. silk, cotton, hemp), these biocomposites have the potential for applications in solid battery electrolytes, biosensor technologies, ion-exchange materials, smart textiles, and fuel cell membranes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 20, 2019
Accession Number
AD1073946

Entities

People

  • Robert T. Chung

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biocomposites
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Composite Materials
  • Electrical Properties
  • Electron Microscopy
  • Ion Exchange
  • Ionic Liquids
  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Materials Science
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Natural Fibers
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
  • Polymers
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy
  • United States Naval Academy

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Engineering.
  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Polymer Science and Technology

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Microelectronics