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Fabrication of environmentally, high-strength, fire-retardant biocomposites from small-diameter wood lignin in situ reinforced cellulose matrix

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Abstract

An efficient way to alleviate the pollution imposed by petroleum-based supplies like synthetic fibres and plastics is to prepare biocomposites from recyclable forestry waste with a continuous supply. Despite this, it remains a significant challenge in the field of wood-based panel manufacturing to produce high-performance yet environmentally friendly wood-based materials without the addition of chemical adhesives. Lignin can be used as a “natural adhesive” due to its superior bonding properties, but the dispersion of hemicellulose affects cross-linking at the interfacial interface negatively. This study used lignin/cellulose as a matrix and pretreated it with hydrogen peroxide, sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate solution and in situ bonding of wood fibres to create a high-performance biocomposite material for potential mass production. The findings revealed the tensile (106.63 MPa) and bending strengths (148.78 MPa) of the optimised samples were 125.37% and 91.40% higher than the performance before optimisation. Moreover, the biocomposite demonstrated remarkable hydrophobicity, as evidenced by a water contact angle of 99.96°, and exhibited high thermal stability, without any disintegration observed even when subjected to combustion at 1300 °C. These exceptional properties and advantages render it a highly desirable material for eco-friendly homes and construction applications.

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Acknowledgements

Hebei Provincial Scientific Research Project for Introducing of National High-level Innovative Talents (2021HBQZYCXY011), Hunan Province Key R&D (2022NK2043), The Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Leaders (2021RC4033) and The Science and Technology Talent Support Project of Hunan Province (CN) (2020TJ-Q18).

Funding

Hunan Province Key R&D (2022NK2043), The Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Leaders (2021RC4033) and The Science and Technology Talent Support Project of Hunan Province (CN) (2020TJ-Q18).

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Yang Yang, Lei Zhang and JiJuan Zhang wrote and revised the main manuscript text. Yi Ren, HongFei Huo and Mashallah Rezakazemi prepared all the figures. Xu Zhang and Kai Huang edited the main manuscript text. Zhongfeng Zhang revised and supported funding. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhongfeng Zhang.

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Yang, Y., Zhang, L., Zhang, J. et al. Fabrication of environmentally, high-strength, fire-retardant biocomposites from small-diameter wood lignin in situ reinforced cellulose matrix. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 6, 140 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-023-00721-5

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