Preparation of ultrastrength nanopapers using cellulose nanofibrils

Cellulose nanofibrils were manufactured from cellulose powder (45 μm particle size) using a high pressure homogenizer with various pass numbers. In the present study, the cellulose nanofibrils were used to prepare nanopapers of extremely high tensile performance. Chemical modifications with the increased pass number through the homogenizer provided the dramatically increased tensile modulus and strength of the nanopapers. The high tensile properties are related to the increased surface area, improved crystallinity, hydrogen bonding sites by the homogenization, 3-dimension network structure between the cellulose nanofibrils, and improved stress distribution during the tensile test.