Cellulose Paper Modified by a Zinc Oxide Nanosheet Using a ZnCl2-Urea Eutectic Solvent for Novel Applications

Abstract

Cellulose paper has been functionalized by nanoparticles such as Ag nanoparticles, TiO2, and BaTiO3 for versatile applications including supercapacitor, sensors, photoactivity, and packaging. Herein, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanosheet-modified paper (ZnO@paper) with excellent antibacterial properties was fabricated via a mild ZnCl2-urea eutectic solvent. In this proposed method, cellulose fibers as the raw material for ZnO@paper were treated by an aqueous solvent of ZnCl2-urea; the crystalline region was destroyed and [ZnCl]+-based cations were adsorbed on the surface of cellulose fibers, facilitating more ZnO growth on ZnO@paper. A flexible paper-based triboelectric nanogenerator (P-TENG) was made of ZnO@paper paired with a PTFE film. The P-TENG presents high triboelectric output performance and antibacterial activity. For instance, the output voltage and current of the P-TENG were 77 V and 0.17 μA, respectively. ZnO@paper showed excellent antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus, suggesting that a P-TENG can restrain and kill the bacteria during the working process. The results also indicated that ZnO could improve the surface roughness of cellulose paper, enhancing the output performance of a flexible P-TENG. In addition, the potential application of a P-TENG-based pressure sensor for determining human motion information was also reported. This study not only produced a high-performance P-TENG for fabricating green and sustainable electronics, but also provides an effective and novel method for ZnO@paper preparation.

ZnO–POM Cluster Sub-1 nm Nanosheets as Robust Catalysts for the Oxidation of Thioethers at Room Temperature

“…Zinc oxide (ZnO) as an unique material exhibits semiconducting piezoelectric and pyroelectric multiple properties . With the development of advanced synthesis techniques, various kinds of zinc oxide nanostructures have been reported, such as nanosponges, nanosprings, nanorings, nanowires, − nanosheets, , etc. Benefiting from their special structures and properties, these materials have been applied to a wide range of fields, including optoelectronics, sensors, solar cells, biomedical sciences, etc .…”

Fabrication of Advanced Cellulosic Triboelectric Materials via Dielectric Modulation

“…Recently, 2D nanofillers have attracted attention owing to their extraordinary physical, electronic, and chemical properties. Among them, carbonaceous materials, [ 264 ] metal oxide, [ 265 ] and transition metal dichalcogenides [ 266 ] are widely used in the dielectric modulation of triboelectric materials. Upon sonication, the 2D‐sheet‐like MXene (Figure 11e) [ 267 ] and graphene sheet (Figure 11f) [ 268 ] have good electrical properties and are promising candidate fillers for enhancing the surface charge density.…”

Liquid‐Free, Anti‐Freezing, Solvent‐Resistant, Cellulose‐Derived Ionic Conductive Elastomer for Stretchable Wearable Electronics and Triboelectric Nanogenerators

“…As shown in Figure 2d, for the ChCl/urea-MCCM 3% -AA, the storage modulus (G′) was significantly higher than the loss modulus (G″), and the values of the modulus were almost constant with the increase of stress, indicating the solid-like behavior of the ionic conductive elastomers. [39][40][41][42][43][44] It was worth noting that the modulus of the ChCl/ urea-MCCM 3% -AA was higher than that of ChCl/urea-MCC 3% -AA, suggesting that the modification of cellulose could significantly enhance the mechanical property of the conductive elastomer. In addition, the values of G′ were also increased with the increase of cellulose content (Figure S6, Supporting Information).…”

“…[35][36][37][38] Also, the liquid-free and antifreezing features could reduce the risk of function deterioration of the PDES-based conductive materials, which often occurred in hydrogels due to water evaporation or freezing. Despite brilliant advances in long-term stability and conductivity, the current cellulose-derived PDES conductive materials utilized in TENG still showed weak mechanical strength that was lower than 0.5Mpa, [39,40] which probably resulted from the hydrogen bond-breaking or degradation of cellulose derivatives during the preparation procedure. However, the utilization of natural cellulose to directly fabricate the ion conductive elastomer with excellent mechanical property and conductivity was not straightforward.…”