Faced with a threat to the environment and consuming resources caused by petroleum based non-biodegradable plastics, it makes a growing urgency to develop the next generation materials according to the principles of green chemistry and eco-efficiency. Herein, a series of highly strength materials including fibers, films and hydrogels were constructed from cellulose solution in alkali/urea aqueous system at the low temperature, in which the extended semi-stiff chains of cellulose aggregated in parallel manner under mild coagulating environment to form dense nanofibers. Thus, the cellulose fibers, films and hydrogels containing nanofibers with mean diameter of about 30 nm were fabricated, displaying an orientation microstructure and excellent properties. As the first example of nano-structured fibers, the cellulose multifilaments exhibited high orientation degree with Herman's parameter of 0.9 and excellent mechanical properties with a tensile strength of 3.5 cN/dtex. Furthermore, cellulose hydrogels exhibited the rapidly responsive birefringence behaviors with highly stable colors under mechano-deformation, and the high mechanical strength and elasticity with loading-unloading cycles of 1000 times.

Highly strong materials constructed from cellulose solution based on formation of nanofibers

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.