TY - JOUR A1 - Zou, T. A1 - Nonappa, N. A1 - Khavani, M. A1 - Vuorte, M. A1 - Penttilä, P. A1 - Zitting, A. A1 - Valle-Delgado, J. J. A1 - Elert, Anna Maria A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee A1 - Balakshin, M. A1 - Sammalkorpi, M. A1 - Österberg, M. T1 - Experimental and Simulation Study of the Solvent Effects on the Intrinsic Properties of Spherical Lignin Nanoparticles JF - The journal of physical chemistry. B N2 - Spherical lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) fabricated via nanoprecipitation of dissolved lignin are among the most attractive biomass-derived nanomaterials. Despite various studies exploring the methods to improve the uniformity of LNPs or seeking more application opportunities for LNPs, little attention has been given to the fundamental aspects of the solvent effects on the intrinsic properties of LNPs. In this study, we employed a variety of experimental techniques and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the solvent effects on the intrinsic properties of LNPs. The LNPs were prepared from softwood Kraft lignin (SKL) using the binary solvents of aqueous acetone or aqueous tetrahydrofuran (THF) via nanoprecipitation. The internal morphology, porosity, and mechanical properties of the LNPs were analyzed with electron tomography (ET), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and intermodulation AFM (ImAFM). We found that aqueous acetone resulted in smaller LNPs with higher uniformity compared to aqueous THF, mainly ascribing to stronger solvent−lignin interactions as suggested by MD simulation results and confirmed with aqueous 1,4-dioxane (DXN) and aqueous dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). More importantly, we report that both LNPs were compact particles with relatively homogeneous density distribution and very low porosity in the internal structure. The stiffness of the particles was independent of the size, and the Young’s modulus was in the range of 0.3−4 GPa. Overall, the fundamental understandings of LNPs gained in this study are essential for the design of LNPs with optimal performance in applications. KW - Lignin KW - Electron tomography KW - Intermodulation AFM KW - Modulus KW - SAXS PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-546948 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c05319 SN - 1520-5207 VL - 125 IS - 44 SP - 12315 EP - 12328 PB - ACS AN - OPUS4-54694 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Tavasolyzadeh, Zeynab A1 - Sturm, Heinz A1 - Topolniak, Ievgeniia T1 - Multiphoton Lithography of Interpenetrating Polymer Networks for Tailored Microstructure Thermal and Micromechanical Properties JF - Small N2 - Multiphoton lithography (MPL), an emerging truly 3D microfabrication technique, exhibits substantial potential in biomedical applications, including drug delivery and tissue engineering. Fabricated micro-objects are often expected to undergo shape morphing or bending of the entire structure or its parts. Furthermore, ensuring precise property tuning is detrimental to the realization of the functionality of MPL microstructures. Herein, novel MPL materials based on interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) are presented that effectively combine the advantages of acrylate and epoxy systems. IPNs with varying component ratios are investigated for their microfabrication performance and structural integrity with respect to thermal and micromechanical properties. A variety of high-resolution techniques is applied to comprehensively evaluate IPN properties at the bulk, micron, and segmental levels. This study shows that the MPL laser scanning velocity and power, photoinitiator content, and multi-step exposure can be used to tune the morphology and properties of the IPN. As a result, a library of 3D MPL IPN microstructures with high 3D structural stability and tailored thermal and micromechanical properties is achieved. New IPN microstructures with Young’s moduli of 3–4 MPa demonstrate high-to-fully elastic responses to deformations, making them promising for applications in morphable microsystems, soft micro-robotics, and cell engineering. KW - Interpenetrating polymer network KW - Multiphoton lithography KW - Atomic force microscopy KW - Intermodulation AFM KW - Fast scanning calorimetry PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-600593 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202310580 SN - 1613-6810 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-60059 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani, Media A1 - Elert, Anna Maria A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Agudo Jácome, Leonardo A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee A1 - Sturm, Heinz T1 - Short- and long-range mechanical and chemical interphases caused by interaction of Boehmite (γ-AlOOH) with anhydride-cured epoxy resins JF - Nanomaterials N2 - Understanding the interaction between boehmite and epoxy and the formation of their interphases with different mechanical and chemical structures is crucial to predict and optimize the properties of epoxy-boehmite nanocomposites. Probing the interfacial properties with atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based methods, especially particle-matrix long-range interactions, is challenging. This is due to size limitations of various analytical methods in resolving nanoparticles and their interphases, the overlap of interphases, and the effect of buried particles that prevent the accurate interphase property measurement. Here, we develop a layered model system in which the epoxy is cured in contact with a thin layer of hydrothermally synthesized boehmite. Different microscopy methods are employed to evaluate the interfacial properties. With intermodulation atomic force microscopy (ImAFM) and amplitude dependence force spectroscopy (ADFS), which contain information about stiffness, electrostatic, and van der Waals forces, a soft interphase was detected between the epoxy and boehmite. Surface potential maps obtained by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM) revealed another interphase about one order of magnitude larger than the mechanical interphase. The AFM-infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) technique reveals that the soft interphase consists of unreacted curing agent. The long-range electrical interphase is attributed to the chemical alteration of the bulk epoxy and the formation of new absorption bands. KW - Nanocomposites KW - Interphase KW - Intermodulation AFM KW - Electron microscopy KW - Infrared nano AFM PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-483672 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/9/6/853/htm DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9060853 SN - 2079-4991 VL - 9 IS - 6 SP - 853, 1 EP - 20 PB - MDPI AN - OPUS4-48367 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -