Issue 13, 2023

Highly tough, degradable, and water-resistant bio-based supramolecular plastics comprised of cellulose and tannic acid

Abstract

It is challenging to fabricate high-performance degradable plastics that simultaneously possess high mechanical strength, satisfactory water resistance and rapid degradation characteristics in natural environments using biomass resources. In this study, mechanically robust, water-resistant, biocompatible, and degradable plastics are fabricated through the complexation of regenerated cellulose and tannic acid (TA) followed by molding these complexes into desired shapes. The resulting plastic (denoted as C-TA) prepared with 15 wt% TA exhibits an ultrahigh fracture strength of ∼265 MPa and a toughness of ∼55.2 MJ m−3. An all-atom molecular dynamics simulation demonstrates that the introduction of dendritic TA molecules notably enhances the toughness of the C-TA plastic through the formation of TA-centered hydrogen-bond clusters. The C-TA plastic retains a fracture strength of ∼166 MPa and ∼98 MPa after being stored in environments with relative humidities of 80% and 100% for 7 days, respectively, indicating its excellent water resistance. The good water resistance and high mechanical strength of the C-TA plastic originate from the hydrophobic aromatic rings of its TA molecules and its TA-centered hydrogen-bond clusters which serve as cross-links and nanofillers to strengthen the plastic. The C-TA plastic can be fully degraded in soil into nontoxic species within 35 days.

Graphical abstract: Highly tough, degradable, and water-resistant bio-based supramolecular plastics comprised of cellulose and tannic acid

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Jan 2023
Accepted
09 Mar 2023
First published
10 Mar 2023

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023,11, 7193-7200

Highly tough, degradable, and water-resistant bio-based supramolecular plastics comprised of cellulose and tannic acid

H. Sun, X. Fang, Y. Zhu, Z. Yu, X. Lu and J. Sun, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023, 11, 7193 DOI: 10.1039/D3TA00351E

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