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Designing Stimuli-Responsive Nanocomposites To Investigate Interface Dynamics, Huyen Vu

Doctoral Dissertations

Inspired by nature, this research focuses on designing multifunctional renewable nanocomposites with high toughness and stimuli-responsiveness. In recent years, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have been explored due to their abundance, renewable resource, and unique mechanical strength and structural coloration. CNCs naturally self-assemble into the helicoidal (Bouligand) structure that effectively endure high impacts but is brittle without an attendant soft phase. A thermoresponsive polymer, poly(diethylene glycol methyl ether methacrylate) (PMEO₂MA), was incorporated into CNCs via evaporation-induced self-assembly to improve toughness of the resulting nanocomposites and to study responses in polymer dynamics under varying temperature and humidity conditions. To study microscopic …