A group of researchers, including members of the Wallenberg Wood Science Center, have succeeded in making flexible magnetic aerogels that can be compacted into stiff magnetic nanopaper using cellulose nanofibrils as templates. Their work was recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Nanotechnology.
A new approach for making nanoparticle cellulose materials with ordered interconnected organic and inorganic phases on the nanoscale. The new magnetic nanoparticle cellulose material with a network of cellulose nanofibers as scaffold can be used for the production of new functional materials. It can be used for in-situ precipitation of inorganic nanoparticles within the cellulose network, to produce evenly distributed nanoparticles inside the organic matrix and to prepare nano-functuional lightweight “foam-like” materials with very low apparent density based cellulose and provide the possibilities to prepare magnetic hydrogels based on cellulose.
Because the concepts of the process are simple and nanocellulose is sustainable and readily available in large quantities from wood, the suggested route is suitable for industrial-scale production and may be used with many types of nanoparticles.
The magnetic nanoparticle cellulose material and fabrication process are envisaged to be used within a broad range of applications. In compacted film form, the magnetic material may be used against document counterfeiting, for example. Other possible applications for the material include various types of membranes and filters, sensitive electromagnetic switches, generators, magnetic actuators, etc.
International research reported in Nature Nanotechnology
A group of researchers, including members of the Wallenberg Wood Science Center, have succeeded in making flexible magnetic aerogels that can be compacted into stiff magnetic nanopaper using cellulose nanofibrils as templates. Their work was recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Nanotechnology.
A new approach for making nanoparticle cellulose materials with ordered interconnected organic and inorganic phases on the nanoscale. The new magnetic nanoparticle cellulose material with a network of cellulose nanofibers as scaffold can be used for the production of new functional materials. It can be used for in-situ precipitation of inorganic nanoparticles within the cellulose network, to produce evenly distributed nanoparticles inside the organic matrix and to prepare nano-functuional lightweight “foam-like” materials with very low apparent density based cellulose and provide the possibilities to prepare magnetic hydrogels based on cellulose.
Because the concepts of the process are simple and nanocellulose is sustainable and readily available in large quantities from wood, the suggested route is suitable for industrial-scale production and may be used with many types of nanoparticles.
The magnetic nanoparticle cellulose material and fabrication process are envisaged to be used within a broad range of applications. In compacted film form, the magnetic material may be used against document counterfeiting, for example. Other possible applications for the material include various types of membranes and filters, sensitive electromagnetic switches, generators, magnetic actuators, etc.
The article can be obtained from
http://dx.doi.org/
DOI-number: 10.1038/NNANO.2010.155