Abstract
Both cellulose nanocrystals and gold nanoparticles show immense potential for biological and chemical applications. Gold nanoparticles, which tend to aggregate, are hybridized with cellulose nanocrystals to form stable inorganic–organic hybrids in which nanocellulose acts as a green supporting material for the catalytically active gold nanoparticles. A green synthesis approach was taken, and hydrothermal treatment was used to reduce electrostatic repulsion between the gold nanoparticles and the cellulose nanocrystals to promote heteroaggregation instead of homoaggregation. AFM analysis showed hybrid films to be hygroscopic, suggesting that they would respond to changes in humidity. Laser diffraction and fluorescence quenching were used to determine how hybrid films respond to changes in humidity. Hybrid films were found to respond to changes in humidity quickly, reversibly, and autonomously, making them ideal for use as or in a humidity sensor. Gold nanoparticles were shown to enhance the hybrid response to ambient moisture, causing them to show a linear dependence on changes in humidity, making the hybrid controllable, highly sensitive, and a viable prospective material for humidity sensing applications.
Highlights
Advanced materials designed with green chemistry in mind tend to be safe, biocompatible and nontoxic.[1,2] One way to guarantee the manifestation of these properties is by using starting materials with the desired characteristics to make the advanced material
The hydrothermal treatment of cellulose resulted in negligible changes in its chemical composition (Fig. S2A†)
A slight decrease in peak intensity was observed at 1730 cmÀ1 and 1600 cmÀ1, which may be due to the removal of acetyl groups from the Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) surface
Summary
Advanced materials designed with green chemistry in mind tend to be safe, biocompatible and nontoxic.[1,2] One way to guarantee the manifestation of these properties is by using starting materials with the desired characteristics to make the advanced material. Polysaccharides are well-known for their safety, biocompatibility and non-toxicity, and have been used as a fundamental material in human-related applications for a long time.[3,4,5] By downsizing polysaccharide-based materials to the nanoscale, they have high speci c surface area, high dispersibility, and high stability,[6,7] making them viable catalyst carriers,[8] coatings,[9] membranes,[10] and drug delivery systems11,12 – among other uses. Bulk and microcrystalline polysaccharidebased materials lack these advantages. Polysaccharidebased nanocrystals – chitin and cellulose in particular – are widely used and are extremely promising when it comes to potential applications
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