ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the behaviour and performance of cellulosic nanomaterials and how these are attributed to the interfacial features of this particular bionanomaterial. Cellulosic nanomaterials can be roughly categorised with respect to their size and overall dimensions as well as with respect to the surface charge and chemical composition. The Specific Surface Area (SSA) is a measure of great importance for the characterisation of materials, in particular nanosized materials, such as cellulose nanomaterials. Often the SSA is only calculated from measured dimensions, that is, fibril diameters and lengths. In contrast to BC with high chemical purity of cellulose, lignocellulosic biomass-derived nanocellulosic building blocks rarely exist as pure cellulose. The high reactivity of cellulosic nanomaterials for modification arises from their high SSA and numerous surface hydroxyl groups available for the chemical reactions. Surface charge and mobility are key parameters of colloidal systems and thus also for cellulose nanomaterials.
