ABSTRACT
Cellulose, the world’s most abundant, natural, renewable, biodegradable polymer, is a classic example of reinforcing element, which occurs as whisker-like microfibrils that are biosynthesized and deposited in a continuous fashion. This quite “primitive” polymer can be used to create high-performance nanocomposites presenting outstanding properties. This reinforcing capability results from the intrinsic chemical nature of cellulose and from its hierarchical structure. During the past decade, many works have been devoted to mimic biocomposites by blending cellulose whiskers from different sources with polymer matrices [1]. There has been an expanding search for new materials with high performance at affordable costs in recent years. The potential of nanocomposites in various sectors of research and application is promising and attracting increasing investments. The production of nanoscale cellulose fibers and their application in composite materials have gained increasing attention due to their high strength and stiffness combined with low weight, biodegradability, and renewability. The main reason to utilize cellulose nanofibers in composite materials is due to its high stiffness [2]. Nanocomposites, in general, are two-phase materials in which one of the phases has at least one dimension in the nanometer range (1–100 nm). A number of researchers have, therefore, explored the concept of fully bio-derived nanocomposites as a route for the development of bioplastics or bioresins with better properties and this has been the subject of recent reviews [3–7].
