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Effects of cellulose nanofibrils on the structure and properties on PVA nanocomposites

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Abstract

A green method—joint mechanical grinding and high pressure homogenization—was used to defibrillate paper pulp into nanofibrils. The prepared cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) were then blended with PVA in an aqueous system to prepare transparent composite film. The size and morphology of the nanofibrils and their composites were observed, and the structure and properties were characterized. The results showed that CNFs are beneficial to improve the crystallinity, mechanical strength, Young’s modulus, T g and thermal stability of the PVA matrix because of their high aspect ratio, crystallinity and good compatibility. Therefore, nano cellulosic fibrils were proven to be an effective reinforcing filler for the hydrophilic polymer matrix. Moreover, the green fabrication approaches will be helpful to build up biodegradable nanocomposites with wide applications in functional environmentally friendly materials.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51103073 and 21277073), Scientific Research Foundation for Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK2011828), Qing Lan Project of Jiangsu Province and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Dagang Liu, Xun Sun, Sonakshi Maiti & Zhongshi Ma

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, 100048, China

    Huafeng Tian

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  1. Dagang Liu
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  2. Xun Sun
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  3. Huafeng Tian
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  4. Sonakshi Maiti
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  5. Zhongshi Ma
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Correspondence to Dagang Liu.

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Liu, D., Sun, X., Tian, H. et al. Effects of cellulose nanofibrils on the structure and properties on PVA nanocomposites. Cellulose 20, 2981–2989 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-013-0073-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-013-0073-6

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