Reinforcing Paper Strength by Dual Treatment of a Cationic Water-soluble Polymer and Cellulose Nanofibril

Cellulose nanofibril (CNF) was used as the anionic component of two dual strengthening systems wherein polyamidopolyamine epichlorohydrin resin (PAE) or cationic starch (CS) was used as the cationic component. Their strengthening effects were investigated for low-basis-weight (30 g/m²) paper composed of a mixture of fully bleached softwood and hardwood pulp in a 4:1 mass ratio. Using the PAE/CNF or CS/CNF dual system, it was generally easier to achieve higher wet and dry tensile strengths of paper compared to the paper using the single PAE or CS system. For example, the paper using the PAE (0.4%)/CNF (0.3%) dual system exhibited 89% higher wet tensile strength than the paper using the single PAE (0.4%) system, and the paper using CS (1.3%)/CNF (0.3%) dual treatment showed 21% higher dry strength than that using the single CS (1.3%) system. However, the PAE/CNF system only showed small improvement in the dry strength of paper (11% higher than that of paper using the single PAE system), so did the CS/NFC system on wet strength improvement (only 17% higher than that of paper using the single CS system).     

Ultraprecise 3D Printed Graphene Aerogel Microlattices on Tape for Micro Sensors and E-Skin

3D printed graphene aerogels hold promise for flexible sensing fields due to their flexibility, low density, conductivity, and piezo-resistivity. However, low printing accuracy/fidelity and stochastic porous networks have hindered both sensing performance and device miniaturization. Here, printable graphene oxide (GO) inks are formulated through modulating oxygen functional groups, which allows printing of self-standing 3D graphene oxide aerogel microlattice (GOAL) with an ultra-high printing resolution of 70 µm. The reduced GOAL (RGOAL) is then stuck onto the adhesive tape as a facile and large-scale strategy to adapt their functionalities into target applications. Benefiting from the printing resolution of 70 µm, RGOAL tape shows better performance and data readability when used as micro sensors and robot e-skin. By adjusting the molecular structure of GO, the research realizes regulation of rheological properties of GO hydrogel and the 3D printing of lightweight and ultra-precision RGOAL, improves the sensing accuracy of graphene aerogel electronic devices and realizes the device miniaturization, expanding the application of graphene aerogel devices to a broader field such as micro robots, which is beyond the reach of previous reports.     

Highly Conductive Microfiber of Graphene Oxide Templated Carbonization of Nanofibrillated Cellulose

Microfibers with conductivity of 649 ± 60 S/cm are introduced through a carbonization of well‐aligned graphene oxide (GO) – nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) hybrid fibers. GO acts as a template for NFC carbonization, which changes the morphology of carbonized NFC from microspheres to sheets while improving the carbonization of NFC. Meanwhile, the carbonized NFC repairs the defects of reduced GO (rGO) and links rGO sheets together. The GO templated carbonization of NFC as well as the alignment of the building blocks along the fiber direction leads to excellent conductivity. Conductive microfibers are evaluated as lithium ion battery anodes, which can be applied in wearable electronics. This approach to make conductive microfibers and the low cost raw materials used in this work may be applied to other carbon based conductive structures.     

Lignin as a Wood‐Inspired Binder Enabled Strong,Water Stable,and Biodegradable Paper for Plastic Replacement

Plastic waste has been increasingly transferred from land into the ocean and has accumulated within the food chain, causing a great threat to the environment and human health, indicating that fabricating an eco‐friendly and biodegradable replacement is urgent. Paper made of cellulose is attractive in terms of its favorable biodegradability, resource abundance, large manufacturing scale, and low material cost, but is usually hindered by its inferior stability against water and poor mechanical strength for plastic replacement. Here, inspired by the reinforcement principle of cellulose and lignin in natural wood, a strong and hydrostable cellulosic material is developed by integrating lignin into the cellulose. Lignin as a reinforced matrix is incorporated to the cellulose fiber scaffold by successive infiltration and mechanical hot‐pressing treatments. The resulting lignin‐cellulose composite exhibits an outstanding isotropic tensile strength of 200 MPa, which is significantly higher than that of conventional cellulose paper (40 MPa) and some commercial petroleum‐based plastics. Additionally, the composite demonstrates a superior wet strength of 50 MPa. Adding lignin also improves the thermostability and UV‐blocking performance of cellulose paper. The demonstrated lignin‐cellulose composite is biodegradable and eco‐friendly with both components from natural wood, which represents a promising alternative that can potentially replace the nonbiodegradable plastics.     

CdS Quantum Dots Encapsulated in Chiral Nematic Mesoporous Silica: New Iridescent and Luminescent Materials

Simultaneous integration of light emission and iridescence into a semiconducting photonic material is attractive for the design of new optical devices. Here, a straightforward, one‐pot approach for liquid crystal self‐assembly of semiconductor quantum dots into cellulose nanocrystal‐templated silica is developed. Through a careful balance of the intermolecular interactions between a lyotropic tetraalkoxysilane/cellulose nanocrystal dispersion and water‐soluble polyacrylic acid/mercaptopropionic acid‐stabilized CdS quantum dots, CdS/silica/nanocellulose composites that retain both chiral nematic order of the cellulose nanocrystals and emission of the quantum dots are successfully co‐assembled. Subsequent removal of the cellulose template and organic stabilizers in the composites by controlled calcination generates new freestanding iridescent, luminescent chiral nematic mesoporous silica‐encapsulated CdS films. The pores of these materials are accessible to analytes and, consequently, the CdS quantum dots undergo strong luminescence quenching when exposed to TNT solutions or vapor.     

Silica aerogel granulate material for thermal insulation and daylighting

Silica aerogel granulate is a nanostructured material with high solar transmittance and low thermal conductivity. These properties offer exciting applications in building envelopes. One objective of the joint R&D project ISOTEG at ZAE Bayern was to develop and characterize a new glazing element based on granular silica aerogel. Heat transfer coefficients of less than 0.4 W/(m² K) and a total solar energy transmittance of 35% for the whole glazing unit were achieved. The glazing has a thickness of less than 50 mm. Another application for granular silica aerogel is, for example, in solar collectors.The thermal properties of the glazing as well as the optical and thermal properties of the granular aerogels are presented here. The solar transmittance of a 10 mm packed bed of silica aerogel was 53% for semi-translucent spheres and 88% for highly translucent granulate. In our heat transfer experiments the gas pressure, external pressure load, temperature and gas filling were varied. The various thermal conductivity values measured for the glazing and collector applications were compared to the values calculated using two different packed bed models. For the gas-dependent measurements the intergranular voids in the granulate were 1.0 ± 0.1 mm before loading the packed bed, 0.3 ± 0.1 mm at an external load of 3.2 bar (3.2 × 10⁵ Pa) and 0.6 ± 0.1 mm after release.A direct radiative conduction of λ_direct = 4.5 ± 0.5 × 10⁻³ W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ was obtained.     

聚阴离子纤维素合成工艺

研究了溶剂法合成聚阴离子纤维素（ＰＡＣ）过程中游离碱浓度、氯乙酸钠水解率和产品取代度及其溶液粘度与反应条件的关系。选用低极性异丙醇／水（体积比９／１）溶剂，能有效地抑制氯乙酸钠的水解从而获得较高的产品取代度和氯乙酸利用率。合成过程中加入表面活性剂有利于提高反应的均匀性，使产品抗盐性增强。     

含纤维素类生物质的生物制氢

首次报道了以消化污泥为天然产氢菌源,以含纤维素类生物质(脱油花生饼和棉籽饼)为底物,通过批式试验实现生物制氢的研究结果。系统考察了菌种来源、底物预处理、培养时间、发酵反应温度等因素对含纤维素类生物质(脱油棉籽饼和花生饼)产氢能力的影响,考察了液相发酵末端产物组成随培养时间的变化规律。实验结果表明,在脱油花生饼和棉籽饼初始浓度分别为80g/L和100g/L的条件下,经稀盐酸预处理后二者的产氢能力分别从27.37mL/g和9.24mL/g增加至42.4mL/g和15.4mL/g,与未经预处理的脱油花生饼和棉籽饼相比,二者的产氢能力分别提高了54.9%和66.7%。生物气的主要组成为氢气和二氧化碳,发酵液的主要组成为乙醇、乙酸和丁酸,整个发酵产氢过程没有检测到有意义的甲烷气体存在。     

High yield production of microcrystalline cellulose by a thermo-mechano-solvolytic treatment

By thermally treating a commercial cellulose in ethylene glycol, celluloses of controlled low degree of polymerization, DP_r = 1000 to 70, can be derived. Two general behaviors are observed in the range studied. At first, the depolymerization reaction is predominant down to a DP equal to 130. Beyond this level, the depolymerization process leads to extensive solubilization of the cellulose. The treated celluloses have been analyzed by X-ray diffraction, FTIR, TGA, elemental analysis and enzymatic hydrolysis. No chemical change of the cellulose could explain the two different behaviors. A physical modification in the form of depolymerization and destructuration is suspected.     

Infrared study of salt free and salt treated cellulose pyrolysis under nitrogen atmosphere

The pyrolysis under nitrogen of salt free and salt treated cellulose was studied by infrared spectroscopy. The results confirm the unzipping mechanism suggested by DTA and TGA studies, and show this mechanism to apply to the untreated and salt treated samples. The results also show the unzipping to stop at the stage of char formation. The onset of this stage was found to occur after the volatilization of only 45–50% of the initial sample of the borax treated cellulose, compared with 65–70% of the KCl treated cellulose and 80–85% of the untreated cellulose.