title: Water Vapor Uptake of Ultrathin Films of Biologically Derived Nanocrystals: Quantitative Assessment with Quartz Crystal Microbalance and Spectroscopic Ellipsometry.
abstract: Despite the relevance of water interactions, explicit analysis of vapor adsorption on biologically derived surfaces is often difficult. Here, a system was introduced to study the vapor uptake on a native polysaccharide surface; namely, cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) ultrathin films were examined with a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). A significant mass uptake of water vapor by the CNC films was detected using the QCM-D upon increasing relative humidity. In addition, thickness changes proportional to changes in relative humidity were detected using SE. Quantitative analysis of the results attained indicated that in preference to being soaked by water at the point of hydration each individual CNC in the film became enveloped by a 1 nm thick layer of adsorbed water vapor, resulting in the detected thickness response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Products Technology, School of Chemical Technology, Aalto University , 02150 Espoo, Finland.
authors.forename: Elina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Niinivaara
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités , UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, Collège de France, UMR 7574, Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris, F-75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Faustini
authors.affiliation: High Performance Fibre Products, VTT Technical Research Center of Finland , Espoo, Finland.
authors.forename: Tekla
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tammelin
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Products Technology, School of Chemical Technology, Aalto University , 02150 Espoo, Finland.|Polymer and Composites Engineering (PaCE) Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London , London SW7 2AZ, U.K.
authors.forename: Eero
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kontturi
mesh_terms: D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D053758:Nanoparticles; D016062:Porosity; D058525:Quartz Crystal Microbalance Techniques; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014867:Water