Cellulose is an abundant biopolymer that, owing to its excellent physical and mechanical properties, is ubiquitous in our daily lives. However, rather naturally, the material property space of cellulose and cellulose-based materials is not infinite and there are desirable end applications where cellulose-based materials simply cannot be used, for example where they need to display good water durability or high ductility and formability. This contribution describes facile methods for preparing materials where these shortcomings have been addressed by chemical modifications of cellulose fibres and nanofibrils. With proper chemical modification we can, for example, prepare water-durable materials with porosities that span from technically non-porous to a porosity of about 98%, without including freeze-drying, as well as preparing materials with a strain-at-break that is at least one order of magnitude greater than that of native cellulose under standard conditions. Furthermore, the more ductile cellulose exhibit thermoplastic features, facilitating even greater strainability at higher temperatures. Finally, we demonstrate how these features can be used for advanced material processing aiming at novel cellulose-based materials and applications. <br/>

Chemical modification of cellulose fibres and nanofibrils for an expanded material property space and novel applications

2019 Spring National Meeting

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