Reducing formation time while improving transparency and strength of cellulose nanostructured paper with polyvinylpyrrolidone and Laponite

It is a significant challenge to reduce the sheet formation time and simultaneously sustain high transparency and good formation of nanostructured paper made of cellulose fibrils. In this study, a new strategy was developed for expediting the filtration but avoiding the flocculation of cellulose fibrils by using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Laponite as dispersants to reduce the viscosity of the cellulose fibril aqueous dispersion. By adding 0.5 % PVP and 0.2 % Laponite to the cellulose fibril dispersion, the sheet formation time was reduced from 135.3–53.0 min, and the transmittance of the nanostructured paper was increased from 82.8%–89.8 %. The addition of PVP and Laponite significantly reduced the roughness and density but improved the tensile strength of the nanostructured paper. This study provides an approach for simultaneously improving the drainability, transparency, tensile strength, and smoothness of cellulose nanostructured paper made of cellulose fibrils.