Mechanical and Optical Properties of Polylactic Acid Films Containing with Surfactant-

Modified Cellulose NanocrystalsJose Luis Orellana, Derek Wichhart and Christopher L. Kitchens*

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

a) Pure PLA

b) PLA w/ 1 wt% CNC – No Surfactant

Figure S1. Representative stress – strain curves for 10 samples of a) pure PLA, b) PLA with 1 wt. % CNC without added surfactant, c) PLA with 1.0 wt. % CNC and decylamine surfactant, and d) PLA with 1.0 wt. % CNC and CTAB surfactant. Values for the tensile strength, tensile modulus, and toughness (energy at break) were determined for each curve and averaged to yield values in Figure 3.

d) PLA w/ 1 wt% CNC – CTAB Surfactant

c) PLA w/ 1 wt% CNC – DA Surfactant

Figure S2. Orientation of the polarizer, analyzer and the first order red filter (red slow direction); and colors observed when liquid crystals are oriented in the corresponding angles of rotation.

Figure S3. Polarized microscopy of PLA-CNC-UM films at different CNC loadings using a first order red plate (5% and 10% lack of meaning when analyzed with the red plate due to the high retardations)

Figure S4. Polarized microscopy of PLA-CNC-DA films at different CNC loadings using a first order red plate (5% and 10% lack of meaning when analyzed with the red plate due to the high retardations)

Figure S5. Polarized microscopy of PLA-CNC-CTAB films at different CNC loadings using a first order red plate (5% and 10% lack of meaning when analyzed with the red plate due to the high retardations)

Figure S6. PLA-CNC (5% and 10%) composite films with (a) unmodified CNCs; (b) DA-modified CNCs; and (c) CTAB-modified CNCs.

Figure S7. Low magnification polarized-light microscopy of PLA-CNC(10%)-DA nanocomposites showing colored optical properties