Methylcellulose fibrils: a mini review

Svetlana Morozova

doi:10.1002/pi.5945

Methylcellulose fibrils: a mini review

Svetlana Morozova

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

This review covers the recently discovered methylcellulose (MC) fibrils and their impact on MC thermogelation and overall gel strength. The thermogelation of MC aqueous solutions has been studied for nearly 100 years, but it has only recently been attributed to fibril formation at elevated temperatures. The assembly of a fibrillar network explains the general features of MC gels: the unusually high modulus, the turbidity, and the nonlinear rheological behavior at high strains. Recent scattering, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) experimental efforts have led to critical discoveries about the fibril structure. MC fibrils are 60% water by volume when in solution. The length of the fibrils, especially for shorter chains, is closely correlated with the MC chain contour length. On the other hand, the fibril radius does not depend on the temperature, molecular weight or concentration of MC chains but does seem to be correlated with chain stiffness. The discovery of MC fibrils represents a significant departure from the entanglement of polymer chains and localized phase separation based physical model of MC gelation, opens new questions about the mechanism of fibril formation and presents new pathways for stimulus responsive material design.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	125-130
Number of pages	6
Journal	Polymer International
Volume	69
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/pi.5945
State	Published - Feb 1 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
A portion of this work has been supported by the National Science Foundation through the University of Minnesota MRSEC under Award Number DMR‐1420013. We thank the Dow Chemical Company for generously providing the MC samples. The SAXS measurements were taken at the DuPont‐Northwestern‐Dow Collaborative Access Team (DND‐CAT) located at Sector 5 of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). DND‐CAT is supported by Northwestern University, E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and the Dow Chemical Company. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract no. DE‐AC02‐06CH11357. The SANS experiments were conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NIST (Gaithersburg, MD, USA). The research conducted at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor was sponsored in part by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy. I would like to acknowledge Dr Timothy P. Lodge, Dr Peter W. Schmidt, McKenzie L. Coughlin, Dr S. Piril Ertem and Dr Frank S. Bates for their discussions. Without them this research would not be possible.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

Keywords

fibril assembly
methylcellulose
thermoreversible gelation

MRSEC Support

Primary

Publisher link

10.1002/pi.5945

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pi.5945

Find It

Find It at U of M Libraries

Cite this

@article{e20209944e0948918f48aeb696fef281,

title = "Methylcellulose fibrils: a mini review",

abstract = "This review covers the recently discovered methylcellulose (MC) fibrils and their impact on MC thermogelation and overall gel strength. The thermogelation of MC aqueous solutions has been studied for nearly 100 years, but it has only recently been attributed to fibril formation at elevated temperatures. The assembly of a fibrillar network explains the general features of MC gels: the unusually high modulus, the turbidity, and the nonlinear rheological behavior at high strains. Recent scattering, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) experimental efforts have led to critical discoveries about the fibril structure. MC fibrils are 60% water by volume when in solution. The length of the fibrils, especially for shorter chains, is closely correlated with the MC chain contour length. On the other hand, the fibril radius does not depend on the temperature, molecular weight or concentration of MC chains but does seem to be correlated with chain stiffness. The discovery of MC fibrils represents a significant departure from the entanglement of polymer chains and localized phase separation based physical model of MC gelation, opens new questions about the mechanism of fibril formation and presents new pathways for stimulus responsive material design.",

keywords = "fibril assembly, methylcellulose, thermoreversible gelation",

author = "Svetlana Morozova",

note = "Funding Information: A portion of this work has been supported by the National Science Foundation through the University of Minnesota MRSEC under Award Number DMR‐1420013. We thank the Dow Chemical Company for generously providing the MC samples. The SAXS measurements were taken at the DuPont‐Northwestern‐Dow Collaborative Access Team (DND‐CAT) located at Sector 5 of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). DND‐CAT is supported by Northwestern University, E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and the Dow Chemical Company. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract no. DE‐AC02‐06CH11357. The SANS experiments were conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NIST (Gaithersburg, MD, USA). The research conducted at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor was sponsored in part by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy. I would like to acknowledge Dr Timothy P. Lodge, Dr Peter W. Schmidt, McKenzie L. Coughlin, Dr S. Piril Ertem and Dr Frank S. Bates for their discussions. Without them this research would not be possible. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 Society of Chemical Industry",

year = "2020",

month = feb,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1002/pi.5945",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "69",

pages = "125--130",

journal = "Polymer International",

issn = "0959-8103",

publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Ltd",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Methylcellulose fibrils: a mini review

AU - Morozova, Svetlana

N1 - Funding Information: A portion of this work has been supported by the National Science Foundation through the University of Minnesota MRSEC under Award Number DMR‐1420013. We thank the Dow Chemical Company for generously providing the MC samples. The SAXS measurements were taken at the DuPont‐Northwestern‐Dow Collaborative Access Team (DND‐CAT) located at Sector 5 of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). DND‐CAT is supported by Northwestern University, E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and the Dow Chemical Company. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract no. DE‐AC02‐06CH11357. The SANS experiments were conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NIST (Gaithersburg, MD, USA). The research conducted at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor was sponsored in part by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy. I would like to acknowledge Dr Timothy P. Lodge, Dr Peter W. Schmidt, McKenzie L. Coughlin, Dr S. Piril Ertem and Dr Frank S. Bates for their discussions. Without them this research would not be possible. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

PY - 2020/2/1

Y1 - 2020/2/1

N2 - This review covers the recently discovered methylcellulose (MC) fibrils and their impact on MC thermogelation and overall gel strength. The thermogelation of MC aqueous solutions has been studied for nearly 100 years, but it has only recently been attributed to fibril formation at elevated temperatures. The assembly of a fibrillar network explains the general features of MC gels: the unusually high modulus, the turbidity, and the nonlinear rheological behavior at high strains. Recent scattering, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) experimental efforts have led to critical discoveries about the fibril structure. MC fibrils are 60% water by volume when in solution. The length of the fibrils, especially for shorter chains, is closely correlated with the MC chain contour length. On the other hand, the fibril radius does not depend on the temperature, molecular weight or concentration of MC chains but does seem to be correlated with chain stiffness. The discovery of MC fibrils represents a significant departure from the entanglement of polymer chains and localized phase separation based physical model of MC gelation, opens new questions about the mechanism of fibril formation and presents new pathways for stimulus responsive material design.

AB - This review covers the recently discovered methylcellulose (MC) fibrils and their impact on MC thermogelation and overall gel strength. The thermogelation of MC aqueous solutions has been studied for nearly 100 years, but it has only recently been attributed to fibril formation at elevated temperatures. The assembly of a fibrillar network explains the general features of MC gels: the unusually high modulus, the turbidity, and the nonlinear rheological behavior at high strains. Recent scattering, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) experimental efforts have led to critical discoveries about the fibril structure. MC fibrils are 60% water by volume when in solution. The length of the fibrils, especially for shorter chains, is closely correlated with the MC chain contour length. On the other hand, the fibril radius does not depend on the temperature, molecular weight or concentration of MC chains but does seem to be correlated with chain stiffness. The discovery of MC fibrils represents a significant departure from the entanglement of polymer chains and localized phase separation based physical model of MC gelation, opens new questions about the mechanism of fibril formation and presents new pathways for stimulus responsive material design.

KW - fibril assembly

KW - methylcellulose

KW - thermoreversible gelation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076841482&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85076841482&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/pi.5945

DO - 10.1002/pi.5945

M3 - Review article

SN - 0959-8103

VL - 69

SP - 125

EP - 130

JO - Polymer International

JF - Polymer International

IS - 2

ER -

Methylcellulose fibrils: a mini review

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

MRSEC Support

Publisher link

Find It

Other files and links

Fingerprint

University of Minnesota MRSEC (DMR-1420013)

MRSEC IRG-3: Hierarchical Multifunctional Macromolecular Materials

Cite this

Methylcellulose fibrils: a mini review

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

MRSEC Support

Publisher link

Find It

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

University of Minnesota MRSEC (DMR-1420013)

MRSEC IRG-3: Hierarchical Multifunctional Macromolecular Materials

Cite this