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Special Issue "Advanced Cellulose-Based Materials: From Nanoparticles to Complex Structures and Composites"

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A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomacromolecules, Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2023 | Viewed by 4588

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Dr. Selestina Gorgieva

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Institute of Engineering Materials and Design, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: biopolymers; medical textiles; modification and compounding of nanocellulose of bacterial and plant origin; microstructure; scaffolds; membranes; biomaterials for medicine; composite membranes for fuel cells
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Along with its supreme presence in Nature, cellulose holds versatile and renewable engineering material attributes that have gained momentum in many technological areas. The polymeric structure of cellulose consists of glucopyranose monomers, linearly polymerized by β-1,4-glycosidic linkages to varying degrees of polymerization among different origins. Its nano-forms (nanocrystals, nanofibrils) are types of intermediate products, obtained either by bottom-up bio-synthetic approaches (e.g., bacteria- or fungi-mediated fermentation) or top-down chemical and mechanical disintegration approaches applied to plants and trees. In both cases, the resulting nanocellulose delivers distinctive, well-documented features, making it a highly unique material family with an immense research portfolio.

Vast research enthusiasm is needed to unlock cellulose’s full potential as a sustainable building block to deliver materials surpassing the performance of its synthetic counterparts.

This Special Issue aims to attract publications with recent theoretical and experimental findings related to cellulose and nanocellulose isolation (top-down) or bio-processing (bottom-up), as well as its future manipulation in terms of selective modification, mixing, shaping and compounding with other non-cellulosic components in light of more demanding application niches. We welcome the submission of research and review papers delivering new data and collecting and critically commenting on recent publications, giving the future perspective in this attractive research area.

Dr. Selestina Gorgieva
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

cellulose
nanocellulose: processing, modification and compounding
composites
applications: technical, medical, etc.
analysis
sustainability and recyclability of cellulose-containing composites

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Cellulose Fibers-Based Porous Lightweight Foams for Noise Insulation

and

Polymers 2023, 15(18), 3796; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15183796 - 17 Sep 2023

Viewed by 259

Abstract

This paper examines effective and environmentally friendly materials intended for noise insulation and soundproofing applications, starting with materials that have gained significant attention within last years. Foam-formed materials based on cellulose fibers have emerged as a promising solution. The aim of this study was to obtain a set of foam-formed, porous, lightweight materials based on cellulose fibers from a resinous slurry pulp source, and to investigate the impact of surfactant percentage of the foam mixtures on their noise insulation characterisitcs. The basic foam-forming technique was used for sample assembly, with three percentages of sodium dodecyl sulphate (as anionic surfactant) related to fiber weight, and a standardised sound transmission loss tube procedure was used to evaluate noise insulation performance. Results were obtained as observations of internal structural configurations and material characteristics, and as measurements of sound absorption/reflection, sound transmission loss, and surface acoustic impedance. Based on the findings within this study, the conclusions highlight the strong potential of these cellulosic foams to replace widely used synthetic materials, at least into the area of practical noise insulation applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cellulose-Based Materials: From Nanoparticles to Complex Structures and Composites)

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Open AccessArticle

Compressible Cellulose Wood Prepared with Deep Eutectic Solvents and Its Improved Technology

Wenhao Wang

Mengyao Chen

and

Yan Wu

Polymers 2023, 15(7), 1593; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15071593 - 23 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1141

Abstract

Elastic materials have a wide range of applications in many industries, but their widespread use is often limited by small-scale production methods and the use of highly polluting chemical reagents. In this study, we drew inspiration from research on wood softening to develop an environmentally friendly and scalable approach for producing a new type of compressible wood material called CW from natural wood. To achieve this, we employed a top-down approach using a novel type of “ionic liquid” eutectic solvent (DES) that is cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and recyclable. After treatment with DES, the resulting CW demonstrated good elasticity and durable compressibility, which was achieved by removing some lignin and hemicellulose from the wood and thinning the cell walls, thereby creating a honeycomb structure that allows for sustained compression and rebound. However, we found that the wood treated with a single eutectic solvent showed some softening (CW-1), although there was still room for further improvement of its elasticity. To address this, we used a secondary treatment with sodium hydroxide alkali solution to produce a softer and more elastic wood (CW-2). We conducted a series of comparative analyses and performance tests on natural wood (NW) and CW, including microscopic imaging; determination of chemical composition, mechanical properties, and compressive stress effects; and laser confocal testing. The results show that the DES and sodium hydroxide alkali solution treatments effectively removed some lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose from the wood, resulting in the thinning of the cell walls and creating a more elastic material with a sustainable compression rebound rate of over 90%. The various properties of CW, including its elasticity, durability, and sustainability, provide great potential for its application in a range of fields, such as sensors, water purification, and directional tissue engineering. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cellulose-Based Materials: From Nanoparticles to Complex Structures and Composites)

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Open AccessArticle

Efficiency of Neat and Quaternized-Cellulose Nanofibril Fillers in Chitosan Membranes for Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells

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Polymers 2023, 15(5), 1146; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15051146 - 24 Feb 2023

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Abstract

In this work, fully polysaccharide based membranes were presented as self-standing, solid polyelectrolytes for application in anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs). For this purpose, cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) were modified successfully with an organosilane reagent, resulting in quaternized CNFs (CNF (D)), as shown by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Carbon-13 (C13) nuclear magnetic resonance (¹³C NMR), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA)/Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and ζ-potential measurements. Both the neat (CNF) and CNF(D) particles were incorporated in situ into the chitosan (CS) membrane during the solvent casting process, resulting in composite membranes that were studied extensively for morphology, potassium hydroxide (KOH) uptake and swelling ratio, ethanol (EtOH) permeability, mechanical properties, ionic conductivity, and cell performance. The results showed higher Young’s modulus (119%), tensile strength (91%), ion exchange capacity (177%), and ionic conductivity (33%) of the CS-based membranes compared to the commercial Fumatech membrane. The addition of CNF filler improved the thermal stability of the CS membranes and reduced the overall mass loss. The CNF (D) filler provided the lowest (4.23 × 10⁻⁵ cm² s⁻¹) EtOH permeability of the respective membrane, which is in the same range as that of the commercial membrane (3.47 × 10⁻⁵ cm²s⁻¹). The most significant improvement (~78%) in power density at 80 °C was observed for the CS membrane with neat CNF compared to the commercial Fumatech membrane (62.4 mW cm⁻² vs. 35.1 mW cm⁻²). Fuel cell tests showed that all CS-based anion exchange membranes (AEMs) exhibited higher maximum power densities than the commercial AEMs at 25 °C and 60 °C with humidified or non-humidified oxygen, demonstrating their potential for low-temperature direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cellulose-Based Materials: From Nanoparticles to Complex Structures and Composites)

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Review

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Open AccessReview

From Nature to Lab: Sustainable Bacterial Cellulose Production and Modification with Synthetic Biology

Vid Potočnik

Selestina Gorgieva

and

Janja Trček

Polymers 2023, 15(16), 3466; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15163466 - 18 Aug 2023

Viewed by 1813

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a macromolecule with versatile applications in medicine, pharmacy, biotechnology, cosmetology, food and food packaging, ecology, and electronics. Although many bacteria synthesize BC, the most efficient BC producers are certain species of the genera Komagataeibacter and Novacetimonas. These are also food-grade bacteria, simplifying their utilization at industrial facilities. The basic principles of BC synthesis are known from studies of Komagataeibacter xylinus, which became a model species for studying BC at genetic and molecular levels. Cellulose can also be of plant origin, but BC surpasses its purity. Moreover, the laboratory production of BC enables in situ modification into functionalized material with incorporated molecules during its synthesis. The possibility of growing Komagataeibacter and Novacetimonas species on various organic substrates and agricultural and food waste compounds also follows the green and sustainable economy principles. Further intervention into BC synthesis was enabled by genetic engineering tools, subsequently directing it into the field of synthetic biology. This review paper presents the development of the fascinating field of BC synthesis at the molecular level, seeking sustainable ways for its production and its applications towards genetic modifications of bacterial strains for producing novel types of living biomaterials using the flexible metabolic machinery of bacteria. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cellulose-Based Materials: From Nanoparticles to Complex Structures and Composites)

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