Interphase Engineering of a Cellulose-Based Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composite by Applying Click Chemistry.

Given our possible future dependence on carbon fiber reinforced composites, the introduction of a renewable matrix might be advantageous for the vision of a sustainable world. Cellulose is a superior green candidate and provides exceptional freedom in composite design as the free OH groups can be conveniently functionalized to give tailor-made materials. To obtain a high-performing carbon fiber reinforced cellulose propionate composite, we accurately tailored the interfacial adhesion by invoking click chemistry.

Carbon fibre reinforced cellulose-based polymers: intensifying interfacial adhesion between the fibre and the matrix.

Interfacial interactions governing the interfacial adhesion between cellulose propionate and carbon fibre surface are placed under scrutiny to pave the way towards the development of green cellulose-based carbon fibre reinforced polymers. A range of molecular entities are deposited on the surface by initially grafting aromatic structures with appropriate functions diazonium species followed by further derivatization of these entities. Cellulose propionate was also bound covalently to the surface a tosylated derivative invoking its facile nucleophilic displacement reaction with surface-grafted amino functions.