Polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate from the surface of cellulose nanocrystals for the elaboration of PLA-based nanocomposites

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are used to design nanocomposites because of their high aspect ratio and their outstanding mechanical and barrier properties. However, the low compatibility of hydrophilic CNCs with hydrophobic polymers remains a barrier to their use in the nanocomposite field. To improve this compatibility, poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) was grafted from CNCs containing alpha-bromoisobutyryl moieties via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. The novelty of this research is the use of a reactive epoxy-containing monomer that can serve as a new platform for further modifications or crosslinking. Polymer-grafted CNC-PGMA-Br prepared at different polymerization times were characterized by XRD, DLS, FTIR, XPS and elemental analysis. Approximately 40 % of the polymer at the surface of the CNCs was quantified after only 1 h of polymerization. Finally, nanocomposites prepared with 10 wt% CNC-PGMA-Br as nanofillers in a poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrix exhibited an improvement in their compatibilization based on SEM observation.