Experimental and Simulation Study of the Solvent Effects on the Intrinsic Properties of Spherical Lignin Nanoparticles
Tao Zou, Nonappa Nonappa, Mohammad Khavani, Maisa Vuorte, Paavo A. Penttilä, Aleksi Zitting, Juan José Valle‐Delgado, Anna Maria Elert, Dorothee Silbernagl, Mikhail Balakshin, Maria Sammalkorpi, Monika Österberg
Abstract
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.