Modification of nanofibrillated cellulose using amphiphilic block-structured galactoglucomannans

• Block-structured derivatives of O-acetyl galactoglucomannan were synthesized and characterized.
• Amphiphilic O-acetyl galactoglucomannan derivatives were used as surfactants for NFC.
• Adsorption of the bio-based surfactants on NFC was evaluated by QCM-D.
• Modification of NFC films using amphiphilic polysaccharides was reported.

Nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) and hemicelluloses have shown to be highly promising renewable components both as barrier materials and in novel biocomposites. However, the hydrophilic nature of these materials restricts their use in some applications. In this work, the usability of modified O-acetyl galactoglucomannan (GGM) for modification of NFC surface properties was studied. Four GGM-block-structured, amphiphilic derivatives were synthesized using either fatty acids or polydimethylsiloxane as hydrophobic tails. The adsorption of these GGM derivatives was consecutively examined in aqueous solution using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). It was found that the hydrophobic tails did not hinder adsorption of the GGM derivatives to cellulose, which was concluded to be due to the presence of the native GGM-block with high affinity to cellulose. The layer properties of the adsorbed block-co-polymers were discussed and evaluated. Self-standing NFC films were further prepared and coated with the GGM derivatives and the effect of the surface modification on wetting properties and oxygen permeability (OP) of the modified films was assessed.