Abstract
The preparation of high-strength hydrogels from plant-based cellulose nanofibers by simple alkaline treatment is described herein. We isolated the cellulose nanofibers with a uniform width of approximately 15 nm from wood and we prepared two types of hydrogel sheet with different crystal forms (celluloses I and II) in 9 and 15 wt% aqueous sodium hydroxide solutions. Both of the hydrogels exhibited high tensile properties because of the crystalline network in the gels. Especially, the nanofiber hydrogel with a cellulose II crystal structure with the swelling degree of 13.4 achieved a Young’s modulus and tensile strength in excess of 35 and 5 MPa respectively, because it had a continuous and strong nano-network formed via the interdigitation of the neighboring nanofibers during mercerization.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abe K, Yano H (2009) Comparison of the characteristics of cellulose microfibril aggregates of wood, rice straw and potato tuber. Cellulose 16:1017–1023
Abe K, Yano H (2010) Comparison of the characteristics of cellulose microfibril aggregates isolated from fiber and parenchyma cells of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens). Cellulose 17:271–277
Abe K, Yano H (2011) Formation of hydrogels from cellulose nanofibers. Carbohydr Polym 85:733–737
Abe K, Iwamoto S, Yano H (2007) Obtaining cellulose nanofibers with a uniform width of 15 nm from wood. Biomacromolecules 8:3276–3278
Cai J, Kimura S, Wada M, Kuga S, Zhang L (2008) Cellulose aerogels from aqueous alkali hydroxide–urea solution. Chem Sus Chem 1:149–154
Chang C, Zhang L (2011) Cellulose-based hydrogels: present status and application prospects. Carbohydra Polym 84:40–53
Coviello T, Matricardi P, Marianecci C, Alhaique F (2007) Polysaccharide hydrogels for modified release formulations. J Contr Release 119:5–24
Donaldson L (2007) Cellulose microfibril aggregates and their size variation with cell wall type. Wood Sci Technol 41:443–460
Eichhorn SJ, Dufresne A, Aranguren M et al (2010) Review: current international research into cellulose nanofibres and nanocomposites. J Mater Sci 45:1–33
Hagiwara Y, Ananda Putra A, Kakugo A, Furukawa H, Gon JP (2010) Ligament-like tough double-network hydrogel based on bacterial cellulose. Cellulose 17:93–101
Nakano T (2010) Mechanism of microfibril contraction and anisotropic dimensional changes for cells in wood treated with aqueous NaOH solution. Cellulose 17:711–719
Nakano T, Sugiyama J, Norimoto M (2000) Contraction force and transformation of microfibril with aqueous sodium hydroxide solution. Holzforschung 54:315–320
Nakayama A, Kakugo A, Gon JP, Osada Y, Takai M, Erata T, Kawano S (2004) High mechanical strength double network hydrogel with bacterial cellulose. Adv Func Mater 14:1124–1128
Nishino T, Takano K, Nakamae K (1995) Elastic modulus of the crystalline regions of cellulose polymorphs. J Polym Sci, Part A: Polym Chem 33:1647–1651
Okano T, Sarko A (1985) Mercerization of cellulose. II. alkali-cellulose intermediates and a possible mercerization mechanism. J Appl Polym Sci 30:325–332
Pääkkö M, Ankerfors M, Kosonen H, Nykänen A, Ahola S, Österberg M, Ruokolainen J, Laine J, Larsson PT, Ikkala O, Lindström T (2007) Enzymatic hydrolysis combined with mechanical shearing and high-pressure homogenization for nanoscale cellulose fibrils and strong gels. Biomacromolecules 8:1934–1941
Saito T, Uematsu T, Kimura S, Enomaea T, Isogai A (2011) Self-aligned integration of native cellulose nanofibrils towards producing diverse bulk materials. Soft Matter 7:8804–8809
Siro I, Plackett D (2010) Microfibrillated cellulose and new nanocomposite materials: a review. Cellulose 17:459–494
Somerville C, Bauer S, Brininstool G, Facette M, Hamann T, Milne J, Osborne E, Paredez A, Persson S, Raab T, Vorwerk S, Youngs H (2004) Towards a systems approach to understanding plant cell walls. Science 306:2206–2211
Wada M, Ike M, Tokuyasu K (2010) Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose I is greatly accelerated via its conversion to the cellulose II hydrate form. Polym Degrad Stab 95:543–548
Wang Z, Liu S, Matsumoto Y, Kuga S (2012) Cellulose gel and aerogel from LiCl/DMSO solution. Cellulose 19:393–399
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (11020625).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Abe, K., Yano, H. Cellulose nanofiber-based hydrogels with high mechanical strength. Cellulose 19, 1907–1912 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-012-9784-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-012-9784-3