Polyvinyl Alcohol-Cellulose Nanofibrils-Graphene Oxide Hybrid Organic Aerogels

Abstract

Hybrid organic aerogels consisting of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), and graphene oxide nanosheets (GONSs) were prepared using an environmentally friendly freeze-drying process. The material properties of these fabricated aerogels were measured and analyzed using various characterization techniques including compression testing, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis, Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) surface area analysis, and contact angle measurements. These environmentally friendly, biobased hybrid organic aerogels exhibited a series of desirable properties including a high specific compressive strength and compressive failure strain, ultralow density and thermal conductivity, good thermal stability, and moisture resistance, making them potentially useful for a broad range of applications including thermal insulation.

Nanocellulose properties and applications in colloids and interfaces

“…The mechanical properties of nanopapers improved after addition of graphene, furthermore, for a constant amount of graphene the Young's modulus increased linearly with the amount of engineered protein . Similarly, hybrid graphene-cellulose-polyvinyl alcohol organic aerogels were prepared using TOCNF and the results indicated materials with ultralow density, good mechanical and thermal properties (Javadi, 2013). The ability of nanocellulose to interact with proteins and other biopolymers in nature open opportunities for new applications and preparation of biomimetic materials (Wicklein &Salazar-Alvarez, 2013).…”

A cellulose-based hybrid 2D material aerogel for a flexible all-solid-state supercapacitor with high specific capacitance

“…The XRD pattern of the CNFs aerogel shows two overlapped peaks at 2q ¼ 14 -18 , in accordance with the (101) and (10 1) lattice planes of the cellulose I, and an obvious peak at 2q ¼ 22.5 , attributed to the (002) lattice planes of the cellulose I crystalline structure. 35,40,41 The pattern of the pure MoS 2 shows diffraction peaks at 2q ¼ 14 and 59 , which can be attributed to the (002) and (110) planes, respectively, and also shows three overlapping peaks at 2q ¼ 33-40 , which can be readily indexed to the (101), (102), and (103) planes. 42 The XRD pattern of the CNFs/MoS 2 nanohybrid aerogel presents crystalline peaks similar to the combination of the peaks obtained from CNFs and MoS 2 ; this reveals that no additional crystalline order has been introduced into the hybrid.…”

Hybrid Monolith of Graphene/TEMPO-Oxidized Cellulose Nanofiber as Mechanically Robust, Highly Functional, and Recyclable Adsorbent of Methylene Blue Dye

“…From Figure S5, hybrid samples showed gradual improvement in onset degradation temperature (288 ∘ C, 295 ∘ C, and 319 ∘ C) in order to increase nanocellulose content. The significantly higher thermal stability compared to GO (198 ∘ C), CNFs (227 ∘ C), and GO/CNF0 (162 ∘ C) indicating the formation of more stable oxygen containing functional groups as a result of strong bonding interaction between GO and cellulose molecules [57]. It is interesting to note that, by increasing the content of CNFs (12%, 20%, and 28% w/w), hybrid material showed an incremental mass loss of 6.6% (GO/CNF3), 10.73% (GO/CNF5), and 15.63% (GO/CNF7) as well ( Figure S5).…”

“…Among the various methods, the production of nanocellulose fibers through 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO) mediated selective oxidation [54][55][56] offers the nanolevel dispersibility of individual fibrils in pure aqueous medium, since it possesses high density of sodium carboxylated moieties on the fibril surfaces [55,56]. Moreover, excellent mechanical strength (140 Mpa) and highly reactive moieties (COONa + ) of this nanomaterial allow one to produce variety of mechanically robust functional composites [52,53] including hydro/aerogels [57]. Inspired by the intrinsic properties of graphene oxide and nanocellulose fibrils, incorporation of these nanobuilding blocks during self-assembly technique could be a promising approach in order to optimize physicochemical properties and functionality of interconnected porous monolith for industrial application, since graphene can form variety of bonding interactions with this nanofiller such as electrostatic repulsion/attraction and hydrogen bonding.…”