Fatemeh Noormohammadi - Amirkabir university of technology, Polymer engineering and color technology, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Nourany - Amirkabir university of technology, Polymer engineering and color technology, Tehran, Iran
Mehrad Zakizadeh - Amirkabir university of technology, Polymer engineering and color technology, Tehran, Iran
Hanieh Aghaiee Ranjbar - Amirkabir university of technology, Polymer engineering and color technology, Tehran, Iran

In this work, a series of hydrogel polyurethane nanocomposites have been developed based on PCL-PEGPCL triblock polyol and cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) as a cross-linker and controller of microphase separation of blocks. Microphase separation of blocks was studied in detail as a function of PEG block length and CNCs content. CNC nanorods were found to act as a reducing agent of the microphase separation, possibly by rearranging the blocks through changing the morphology of hard domains from a 3D to a shell-like 2D structure, affecting the freedom of movement of the blocks, and finally controlling thermodynamic behaviors.

PCL-PEG-PCL, Cellulose nanocrystal, Polyurethane hydrogel, Nanocomposite.