Spectroscopy Studies of Cellulose Nanofiber‐ and Cellulose Nanocrystal‐Based Nanocomposites

Abstract

Although the use of cellulose‐reinforced composites has been growing since the 1990s, it is only during the last years and following the general boom of nanotechnology that the research on nanocellulose polymer composites also took off with a promising future. Nanocrystals or cellulose whiskers, microfibrillar cellulose, and bacterial cellulose are different forms in which nanocellulose from different natural sources has been incorporated into nanocomposites. Concurrently different spectroscopic techniques have been utilized to characterize such nanocomposites to identify interactions between nanocellulose and matrices, as well as the changes that resulted in the polymeric or reinforcing phases. Infrared spectroscopy and X‐ray diffraction have been the most preferred techniques, but many other spectroscopic methods have been utilized, such as UV–vis, XPS, and PALS. Different examples of their applicability in nanocellulose composites are reviewed in this chapter.