Preparation and characterization of novel micro- and nanocomposite hydrogels containing cellulosic fibrils

The main objective of this article was to report a simple, fast, and low cost strategy for the synthesis of micro- and nanocomposites by adding cellulose nanofibers, obtained by acid hydrolysis, and added to hydrogels as reinforcing agents. Specifically, when cellulose nanofibers were added to hydrogels, morphologic analyses showed significant decreases in pore size and formation of three-dimensional well-oriented porous microstructure. It was also observed that cellulose nanoparticles improved the mechanical and structural network properties without negatively impacting their thermal and hydrophilic properties. The value of maximum compressive stress was 2.1 kPa for the PAAm-MC, and it increased to 4.4 kPa when the cellulose nanofiber was incorporated into the hydrogel. By investigation of XRD patterns, it was found that the incorporation of cellulose nanofiber affected the crystallinity of PAAm-MC hydrogels, thus contributing to improvements in mechanical, structural, and hydrophilic properties of the PAAm-MC hydrogels.