title: Bacterial cellulose nanopaper as reinforcement for polylactide composites: renewable thermoplastic NanoPaPreg.
abstract: Bacterial cellulose (BC) is often regarded as a prime candidate nano-reinforcement for the production of renewable nanocomposites. However, the mechanical performance of most BC nanocomposites is often inferior compared with commercially available polylactide (PLLA). Here, the manufacturing concept of paper-based laminates is used, i.e., "PaPreg," to produce BC nanopaper reinforced PLLA, which has been called "nanoPaPreg" by the authors. It is demon-strated that high-performance nanoPaPreg (vf = 65 vol%) with a tensile modulus and strength of 6.9 ± 0.5 GPa and 125 ± 10 MPa, respectively, can be fabricated. It is also shown that the tensile properties of nanoPaPreg are predominantly governed by the mechanical performance of BC nanopaper instead of the individual BC nanofibers, due to difficulties impregnating the dense nanofibrous BC network.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, SW7 2AZ, London, UK; Polymer and Composite Engineering (PaCE) group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, SW7 2AZ, London, UK.
authors.forename: Thanit
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Montrikittiphant
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Koon-Yang
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Charlotte K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bismarck
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures; D010969:Plastics; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D011091:Polyesters; C033616:poly(lactide); D002482:Cellulose
keywords: Bacterial cellulose; mechanical properties; modeling; nanocomposites; polylactide