Physical Properties of Cellulose Nanocrystals

Dispersibility is important for the applications of CNCs, and it is influenced by neutral counterion content, drying technique, freezing action, drying and redispersion concentrations, and moisture content of the dried CNCs. CNCs derived from sulfuric acid hydrolysis can readily disperse in water, as the introduction of negatively charged sulfate ester groups on the CNC 

Cationic modification can introduce positive charges on the surface of CNCs, which could reverse the surface charge and lead to stable aqueous suspensions of cationic CNCs. Such a surface cationization procedure was conducted by grafting epoxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride (EPTMAC) 

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