Cationic and Anionic Cellulose Nanocrystalline (CNC) Hydrogels: A Rheological Study

Although the rheology of cellulose nanocrystalline (CNC) suspensions has been widely studied, less attention has been paid to the modified cellulose nanocrystals such as cationic and anionic cellulose hydrogels. In this work, the rheological behavior of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), anionic CNCs (pCNCs), and cationic CNCs (nCNCs), was comparatively studied. The rheological behavior demonstrated that the nCNC and pCNC form hydrogen bonding, which significantly contributes to the increase in the gel strengths in the sonicated state. The formation of such structures between individual fibers prevents flocculation due to the increased suspension stability. In addition, the extensive formation of hydrogen bonding in the case of nCNC compared to that of pCNC explains its enhanced rheological properties. The effect of pre-shear has been studied in detail for these systems by considering a combination of pre-shear and startup of steady shear in different shearing directions with certain rest/recovery time in between to eliminate strain history and thus eliminate the possible bias of pre-shearing on structure formation.