Nanocelluloses: A New Family of Nature-Based Materials

Cellulose fibrils with widths in the nanometer range are nature-based materials with unique and potentially useful features. Most importantly, these novel nanocelluloses open up the strongly expanding fields of sustainable materials and nanocomposites, as well as medical and life-science devices, to the natural polymer cellulose. The nanodimensions of the structural elements result in a high surface area and hence the powerful interaction of these celluloses with surrounding species, such as water, organic and polymeric compounds, nanoparticles, and living cells. This Review assembles the current knowledge on the isolation of microfibrillated cellulose from wood and its application in nanocomposites; the preparation of nanocrystalline cellulose and its use as a reinforcing agent; and the biofabrication of bacterial nanocellulose, as well as its evaluation as a biomaterial for medical implants. Cellulose goes nano: Renewed research effort on cellulose has led to nanoscale materials derived from this abundant, renewable, and potentially carbon-neutral source. Microfibrillated cellulose, nanocrystalline cellulose (see polarized microscopy image), and bacterial nanocellulose provide unique product opportunities: gels and foams, structured films of cellulose, and medical implants, respectively. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.