Facile Fabrication of Cellulosic Paper-based Composites with Temperature-controlled Hydrophobicity and Excellent Mechanical Strength

摘要

In this paper,we presented a novel strategy to employ a plantderived carbohydrate polymer,i.e.,cellulose,to prepare a hydrophobic composite.Cellulose was used as a scaffold,and ethylene-propylene side by side(ES)fiber was thermally melted and then coated on the cellulose surface to achieve hydrophobicity.Experimental results revealed that the thermocoating ES fibers greatly increased the water contact angle of the cellulose scaffold from 25°to 153°while simultaneously enhanced the wet tensile strength of the composite approximately 6.7-fold(drying temperature of 170℃)compared with the pure cellulose paper.In particular,compared with other related research,the prepared cellulose-based composite possessed excellent hydrophobicity and superior mechanical strength,which introduces a new chemical engineering approach to prepare hydrophobic cellulose-based functional materials.