2026 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 152-156
Fibrillated cellulose materials (FCMs), such as cellulose nanocrystals, cellulose nanofibers, and microfibrillated cellulose, are produced from bleached kraft pulp for papermaking, with or without chemical or enzymatic pretreatment, via mechanical disintegration or downsizing in water. Therefore, FCMs were prepared from wood cellulose fibers based on crystalline cellulose microfibrils with widths of approximately 3 nm, which were originally biosynthesized from CO2 and water by plants and abundantly accumulated with hemicelluloses and lignin in plant cell walls. Two-layered sheets consisting of a cellulose nanofiber-containing foam-rubber layer and a base sheet were developed as attachable/detachable sheets with super-deodorant functions against H2S, methyl mercaptan, and NH3 gases. Transmission electron microscopy images showed that copper counterion-containing CNF aggregates were located at the air/rubber interfaces. When the CNF surfaces were chemically modified to alkyl amide groups, the CNFs improved the nano-dispersibility in epoxy or polyacrylate resins, resulting in better mechanical, optical, and thermal properties. Stable Pickering silicone oil/water emulsions were prepared by the high-pressure homogenization of silicone oil/CNF/amino-silicone/water mixtures. CNFs containing protonated carboxyl groups formed ionic linkages with the amine groups of amino-silicone molecules, resulting in stable o/w Pickering emulsions with small and homogeneous emulsion particles with mean diameters of 0.3-0.6 μm. When the as-prepared silicone oil emulsion was coated onto glass plates and dried, transparent, water/moisture-resistant, and strongly water-repellent films were obtained.
