title: The role of cellulose nanocrystals incorporation route in waterborne polyurethane for preparation of electrospun nanocomposites mats.
abstract: Electrospinning offers the possibility of obtaining fibers mats from polymer solutions. The use of environmentally-friendly waterborne polyurethane (WBPU) allows obtaining electrospun polyurethane mats in water medium. Furthermore, the incorporation of water dispersible nanoentities, like renewable cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), is facilitated. Therefore, in this work, a WBPU was synthesized and CNC were isolated for preparing WBPU-CNC dispersions nanocomposites with 1 and 3wt% of CNC following both the classical mixing by sonication, and the innovative in-situ route. The dispersions were used for obtaining electrospun mats assisted by poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) as polymer template. Moreover, the extraction of PEO with water resulted in continuous WBPU-CNC mats, showing different properties respect to WBPU-CNC mats containing PEO. The effective addition of CNC led to more defined cylindrical morphologies and the two alternative incorporation routes induced to different CNC dispositions in the matrix, which modified fibers diameters, and thus, mats final properties.
authors.affiliation: Group 'Materials+Technologies', Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country, Pza Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: arantzazu.santamaria@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: Arantzazu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santamaria-Echart
authors.affiliation: Group 'Materials+Technologies', Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country, Pza Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: lorena.ugarte@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ugarte
authors.affiliation: Group 'Materials+Technologies', Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country, Pza Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: kizkitza.gonzalez@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: Kizkitza
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Macrobehavior-Mesostructure-Nanotechnology Unit, General Research Services (SGIker), University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), Plaza Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: loli.martin@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: Loli
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: POLYMAT, Department of Polymer Science and Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Basque Country, P° Manuel Lardizabal 3, 2018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: lourdes.irusta@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Irusta
authors.affiliation: POLYMAT, Department of Polymer Science and Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Basque Country, P° Manuel Lardizabal 3, 2018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: alba.gonzalez@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: Alba
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Group 'Materials+Technologies', Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country, Pza Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: marian.corcuera@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: Maria Angeles
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Corcuera
authors.affiliation: Group 'Materials+Technologies', Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country, Pza Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: arantxa.eceiza@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: Arantxa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eceiza
keywords: Cellulose nanocrystals; Electrospun nanocomposites; Morphology; Surface behavior; Waterborne polyurethane