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Developing fibrillated cellulose as a sustainable technological material

Nature volume 590, pages 47–56 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on Earth, found in trees, waste from agricultural crops and other biomass. The fibres that comprise cellulose can be broken down into building blocks, known as fibrillated cellulose, of varying, controllable dimensions that extend to the nanoscale. Fibrillated cellulose is harvested from renewable resources, so its sustainability potential combined with its other functional properties (mechanical, optical, thermal and fluidic, for example) gives this nanomaterial unique technological appeal. Here we explore the use of fibrillated cellulose in the fabrication of materials ranging from composites and macrofibres, to thin films, porous membranes and gels. We discuss research directions for the practical exploitation of these structures and the remaining challenges to overcome before fibrillated cellulose materials can reach their full potential. Finally, we highlight some key issues towards successful manufacturing scale-up of this family of materials.

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Fig. 1: An overview of fibrillated cellulose.
Fig. 2: Fibrillated cellulose as a lightweight structural material.
Fig. 3: Fibrillated cellulose for far-term technologies.
Fig. 4: Research and industrialization opportunities.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Tian Li, Chaoji Chen

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Tian Li, Chaoji Chen, Alexandra H. Brozena & Liangbing Hu

  2. Center for Materials Innovation, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Tian Li, Chaoji Chen & Liangbing Hu

  3. USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI, USA

    J. Y. Zhu

  4. Sappi Biotech, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Lixian Xu

  5. Brazilian Biorenewables National Laboratory (LNBR), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas, Brazil

    Carlos Driemeier

  6. Inventwood LLC, College Park, MD, USA

    Jiaqi Dai

  7. Bioproducts Institute, Departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chemistry and Wood Science, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Orlando J. Rojas

  8. Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Orlando J. Rojas

  9. Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Akira Isogai

  10. Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology and Wallenberg Wood Science Centre, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lars Wågberg

Authors
  1. Tian Li
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  2. Chaoji Chen
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  4. J. Y. Zhu
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  7. Jiaqi Dai
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  10. Lars Wågberg
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  11. Liangbing Hu
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Contributions

L.H. conceived the paper. L.H., T.L. and C.C. researched the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors edited the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liangbing Hu.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature thanks Xingye An, Andreas Walther and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Li, T., Chen, C., Brozena, A.H. et al. Developing fibrillated cellulose as a sustainable technological material. Nature 590, 47–56 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-03167-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-03167-7

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