Yuehan Wu,Xiaogang Luo,Wei Li,Rong Song,Jing Li,Yan Li,Bin Li,Shilin Liu
In order to obtain a safe and biodegradable material with antimicrobial properties from cellulose for food packaging, we presented a facile way to graft chitosan onto the oxidized cellulose films. The obtained films had a high transparent property of above 80% transmittance, excellent barrier properties against oxygen and antimicrobial properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The antimicrobial properties, mechanical properties, and water vapor permeability of composites are essential characteristics in determining their applicability as food-packaging materials. Moreover, using a sausage model, it was shown that the composites exhibited better performance than traditional polyethylene packaging material and demonstrated good potential as food packaging materials. The results presented a new insight into the development of green materials for food packaging.
As an environmentally friendly aerogel with outstanding performances, the improvement of mechanical properties is urgently required for cellulose aerogel development. In this study, a cellulose aerogel with good mechanical properties was successfully fabricated using nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) as reinforcer. Characterization results demonstrated that NCC was embedded well into the cellulose aerogel. Tests and evaluation showed that the compressive modulus of the NCC reinforced cellulose aerogel was significantly improved, about 6 times higher than that of the pure cellulose aerogel. Furthermore, after modification with trimethylchlorosilane via a cold plasma treatment, the NCC reinforced aerogel became hydrophobic but its oleophilic property remained. This aerogel showed good adsorption capacity, reached saturation rapidly and possessed good reusability. Reinforced mechanical properties with NCC make this cellulose aerogel a very promising material for highly efficient separation and extraction of organic pollutants and oils from water.