Projects per year
Abstract
Advanced cellulose-based foams are urgently needed as sustainable packaging materials in an era of prioritizing environmental consciousness. However, transferring the mechanical properties of cellulose fibers into porous structures is always limited by gas entrapment during foaming and irreversible structural collapse upon liquid evaporation. Herein, a hierarchical assembly strategy combines cationic cellulose nanofibrils (CCNF) with a dynamic covalent tannin/borate (T/B) complex to fabricate 3D continuous foams with distinct lamellar structure via oven drying is proposed for scalable production. CCNF assembles the T/B complex onto cellulose fibers by electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding, while the reversible covalent bonds among T/B complex impart shear-thinning and self-healing properties, thereby ensuring foamability (exceeding 300%) and structural stability. Moreover, the T/B foam offers a versatile platform for customization with metal ions (Fe 3+, Cu 2+, and Ag +), allowing the tailoring of physical and mechanical properties. At an optimized tannin addition of 10%, the 10T/5B-Fe foam exhibits the highest normalized strength above 410 Pa/density, while maintaining an ultralow density of 9.2 mg cm − 3. Additionally, the pH-responsiveness of T/B complexes enables the release of metal ions for long-term antimicrobial activity. This study demonstrates a green and scalable strategy for functional foam production, offering new possibilities for next-generation antimicrobial packaging materials.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2501776 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Small |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 23 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Jun 2025 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Funding
Z.L. would like to acknowledge the financial support from the China Scholarship Council (Student ID 202109370011) for the doctoral study at Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU), Finland. X.W. would like to thank the Research Council of Finland (333158) for funding her research at ÅAU. This study is also part of the activities of the Åbo Akademi University Foundation SÅA) funded Center of Excellence in Research “Materials-driven solutions for combating antimicrobial resistance (MADNESS)” at ÅAU. Parts of the research used the Research Council of Finland Research Infrastructure “Printed Intelligence Infrastructure” (PII-FIRI).
UN SDGs
This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Hierarchical Assembly of Cellulose Fibrils and Tannin in Biocomposite Foam: Scalable Production via Oven Drying and Customizable Metal Ions Release for Antimicrobial Activity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Equipment
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Åbo Akademi Functional Printing Center
Toivakka, M. (PI), Rosenholm, J. (PI), Anttu, N. (PI), Bobacka, J. (PI), Huynh, T. P. (PI), Peltonen, J. (PI), Wang, X. (PI), Wilen, C.-E. (PI), Xu, C. (PI), Zhang, H. (PI) & Österbacka, R. (PI)
Faculty of Science and EngineeringFacility/equipment: Facility
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MADNESS: Centre of Excellence in Materials-driven solutions for combatting antimicrobial resistance
Rosenholm, J. (Principal Investigator), Porres Paltor, I. (Co-Principal Investigator), Bansal, K. (Coordinator), Lafond, S. (Co-Principal Investigator), Uppstu, P. (Co-Principal Investigator), Viitala, T. (Co-Principal Investigator), Wang, X. (Co-Principal Investigator), Wilen, C.-E. (Co-Principal Investigator), Xu, C. (Co-Principal Investigator), Zhang, H. (Co-Principal Investigator), Lu, Z. (Co-Investigator), Verma, J. (Co-Investigator), Kumar, V. (Co-Investigator), Frejborg, F. (Co-Investigator), Wang, S. (Co-Investigator), Ran, M. (Co-Investigator), Ma, X. (Co-Investigator), Yang, W. (Co-Investigator), Liang, S. (Co-Investigator), Zhang, Y. (Co-Investigator), Fan, L. (Co-Investigator), Chen, Y. (Co-Investigator), Wang, L. (Co-Investigator), Zhuang, P. (Co-Investigator), Rajan Prakash, D. (Co-Investigator), Howaili, F. (Co-Investigator), Gulshan, R. (Co-Investigator), Yadav, D. (Co-Investigator), Pathak, C. (Co-Investigator), Mustafa, R. (Co-Investigator), DarzianRostami, L. (Co-Investigator), Jafari Dargahlou, M. (Co-Investigator), Nygård, A. (Co-Investigator), Samrat, S. R. (Co-Investigator) & Rexha, H. (Co-Investigator)
01/01/24 → 31/12/28
Project: Foundation
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SusCellInk: Sustainable nanocellulose-based bioinks towards diverse material functionalities and therapeutic delivery of bioactive cues
Wang, X. (Principal Investigator)
01/09/20 → 31/08/25
Project: Research Council of Finland/Other Research Councils
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