Functional Hybrid Nanopaper by Assembling Nanofibers of Cellulose and Sepiolite

Abstract

Functional heterofibrous hybrid materials are prepared in an integrative approach from aqueous dispersions of nanofibrillated cellulose and sepiolite by applying high shear homogenization and ultrasound irradiation. Both types of nanofibers remain physically cross-linked forming homogeneous and very stable high-viscosity gels that can be shaped as films and considered as "hybrid nanopapers" as well. The presence of sepiolite modifies the surface roughness of the films resulting from the casting process, which can be rendered hydrophobic, as the hydrophilic characteristics of both components resulted modulated. In addition, these fibrous hybrid systems can benefit from the properties provided by the two components, such as mechanical behavior, surface properties, and chemical reactivity. Moreover, further assembly of these hybrid nanopapers to other particulate solids, such as carbon nanotubes, magnetite, or ZnO nanoparticles, results in multifunctional hybrid nanopapers, opening a versatile way for developing other numerous organic-inorganic materials of interest in diverse applications.

Functional biohybrid materials based on halloysite, sepiolite and cellulose nanofibers for health applications

“…3a). It is noteworthy that the two fibrous components (sepiolite and CNFs) cannot be easily distinguished at this magnification due to their morphological similarity and the small width of the CNF fibers as already reported by González del Campo et al 28 The homogeneous distribution of all three components in the hybrid nanopaper was confirmed by EDX mapping (Fig. S1 †).…”

“…4d) in accordance with previous studies on CNF-sepiolite nanocomposites. 28 From these observations it can be concluded that the macroscopic aspect of the films largely depends on the CNF that plays a major role in providing consistency and mechanical integration to the nanopapers, while the presence of SEP produced an improved dispersion of the components as evident from Fig. 4a (HNT-SEP-CNF) and Fig.…”

Incorporating of layered double hydroxide/sepiolite to improve the performance of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) composite membranes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

“…It is noteworthy that, for humidity values above 85%, the nanoarchitecture shows higher water adsorption than of the neat LDH, which is ascribed to the presence of sepiolite. In fact, pure sepiolite could even reach values as higher as 50% in weight increase 33 that are smaller in the nanoarchitecture due to the presence of the assembled LDH nanoparticles to the clay fibers. The differences in the amount of water adsorbed at 90% and 95% RH varies from 13% and 23% to 15% and 34% for LDH and nanoarchitecture, respectively.…”

Three-Dimensional-Printed Core–Shell Structured MFI-Type Zeolite Monoliths for Volatile Organic Compound Capture under Humid Conditions

“…The as-synthesized ZSM-5 crystals with a micrometer size display a typical elongated prism-like shape with smooth surfaces (Figure S2). Because zeolites exhibit poor self-bonding properties under the 3D printing conditions, natural sepiolite nanofibers (SNFs) with the formula of [Si 12 O 30 Mg 8 (OH,F) 4 ]­(OH 2 ) 4 ·8H 2 O were employed as a main printing ink additive to reinforce the mechanical stability of 3D-ZM due to their high aspect ratio and excellent rheological properties. − The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern of SNFs exhibits the characteristic peak of sepiolite at 2θ = 7.3°, which corresponds to the d-spacing of the 110 reflection (JCPDS no. 13-0595) (Figure S3).…”