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.
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This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (11020625).
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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
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-012-9784-3