• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.141-149
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• 2019

Nanocellulose, which can exist as either cellulose nanocrystals or cellulose nanofibrils, has been used as a biomaterial for drug delivery owing to its non-immunogenicity, biocompatibility, high specific area, good mechanical properties, and variability for chemical modification. Various water-soluble drugs can be bound to and released from nanocelluloses through electrostatic interactions. The high specific surface area of nanocellulose allows for high specific drug loading. Additionally, a broad spectrum of drugs can bind to nanocellulose after facile chemical modifications of its surface. Controlled release can be achieved for various pharmaceuticals when the nanocellulose surface is chemically modified or physically formulated in an adequate manner. This review summarizes the potential applications of nanocelluloses in drug delivery according to published studies on drug delivery systems.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.737-745
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• 2017

This study was carried out to investigate the changes in micro- and nanoscopic morphology of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) from various bioresources by investigating various mechanical milling systems. Mechanical milling in herbaceous bioresources was more effective than in woody bioresources, demonstrating lower energy consumption and finer morphology. The milling time to reach nanoscopic size was longer in woody bioresources than in herbaceous bioresources. Furthermore, at the same level of wet disk milling time, CNFs from herbaceous bioresources showed more slender morphology than those from woody bioresources. Tensile properties of nanopaper prepared from CNFs of herbaceous bioresources were higher than those of woody bioresources. The highest tensile strength was found to be 77.4 MPa in the nanopaper from Evening prim rose.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2013

This work attempted to fabricate organic/inorganic nanocomposite by combining organic cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), isolated by 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxy radical (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation of native cellulose with inorganic nanoclay. The morphology and dimension of CNFs, and tensile properties and thermal stability of CNF/clay nanocomposites were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), tensile test, and thermogravimetry (TG), respectively. TEM observation showed that CNFs were fibrillated structure with a diameter of about $4.86{\pm}1.341nm$. Tensile strength and modulus of the hybrid nanocomposite decreased as the clay content of the nanocomposite increased, indicating a poor dispersion of CNFs or inefficient stress transfer between the CNFs and clay. The elongation at break increased at 1% clay level and then continuously decreased as the clay content increased, suggesting increased brittleness. Analysis of TG and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) curves of the nanocomposites identified two thermal degradation peak temperatures ($T_{p1}$ and $T_{p2}$), which suggested thermal decomposition of the nanocomposites to be a two steps-process. We think that $T_{p1}$ values from $219.6^{\circ}C$ to $235^{\circ}C$ resulted from the sodium carboxylate groups in the CNFs, and that $T_{p2}$ values from $267^{\circ}C$ to $273.5^{\circ}C$ were mainly responsible for the thermal decomposition of crystalline cellulose in the nanocomposite. An increase in the clay level of the CNF/clay nanocomposite predominately affected $T_{p2}$ values, which continuously increased as the clay content increased. These results indicate that the addition of clay improved thermal stability of the CNF/clay nanocomposite but at the expense of nanocomposite's tensile properties.