Nanofibrillated cellulose composites and wood derived scaffolds for functional materials

Abstract

As an alternative to the production of nanofibrillated cellulose based composites (NFC) in bottom-up processes the functionalization of wood or cellulose scaffold materials in a top-down approach has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Here we compare both concepts regarding mechanical properties, electric and magnetic properties as well as filtration and adsorption properties for oil/water separation and heavy metal remediation. Depending on the targeted properties, both the bottom-up and the top-down approach show specific advantages and limitations in processing and performance. The comparison shows that the use of wood and wood derived cellulose scaffolds is a very promising alternative to the assembly of NFC for developing green and scalable functional materials.