Nanoscale Wetting of Crystalline Cellulose

Cellulose possesses considerable potential for a wide range of sustainable applications. Nanocellulose-based material properties are primarily dependent on the structural surface characteristics of its crystalline planes. Experimental measurements of the affinity of crystalline nanocellulose surfaces with water are scarce and challenging to obtain. Therefore, the relative hydrophilicity of different cellulose allomorphs crystalline planes is often inferred from qualitative assessments of their surface and the exposition of polar groups to the solvent. This work investigates the relative hydrophilicity of cellulose surfaces using molecular dynamics simulations. The behavior of a water droplet laid on different crystal planes was used to determine their relative hydrophilicity. The water molecules fully spread onto highly hydrophilic surfaces. However, a water droplet placed on less hydrophilic surfaces equilibrates as an oblate spheroidal cap allowing the measurement of a contact angle. The results indicate that the Iα (010), Iα (11̅0), Iβ (010), and Iβ (110) faces, as well as the faces of human-made celluloses II and III_I (100), (11̅0), (010), and (110) are all highly hydrophilic. They all have a contact angle value inferior to 11°. Not unexpectedly, the Iα (001) and Iβ (100) surfaces are less hydrophilic with contact angles of 48 and 34°, respectively. However, the Iβ (11̅0) plane, often referred to as a hydrophilic surface, forms a contact angle of about 32°. The results are rationalized in terms of structure, exposure of hydroxyl groups to the solvent, and degree of cellulose–cellulose versus cellulose–water hydrogen bonds on each face. The simulations also show that the surface oxidation degree tunes the surface hydrophilicity in a nonlinear manner due to cooperative effects involving water–cellulose interactions. Our study helps us to understand how the degree of hydrophilicity of cellulose emerges from specific structural features of each crystalline surface.