One of the strategically important themes of FinnCERES is to exploit the natural water interactions of cellulose in materials engineering. Cellulose is highly hygroscopic and thus takes up large quantities of water, which plays an important structural role in plants. In cellulosic products, on the other hand, this hygroscopicity is often seen as a detriment because water uptake can greatly impair the strength of paper or reduce the gas barrier aptitude of nanocellulose films, for instance. Our core approach is not only to accept the presence of water but thoroughly understand its role as a structural element in cellulosic products.
We truly consider that water as the fourth main structural element in plant cell wall structure, in addition to cellulose, lignin, and hemicelluloses. In this study, we will underline the complexity of the plant cell wall and provide comprehensive insight into the vapor-induced swelling of ultrathin cellulosic films. A model system containing cellulose and hemicellulose is built to examine their response to water vapor. With this model, the role of hemicellulose in water uptake behavior of cellulosic materials will be uncovered.
This work serves as a basis for utilizing the presence of water in novel cellulosic architectures in contemporary materials and thus defining their performance in applications including moisture management of textiles, sustainable production of energy-rich chemicals in solid-state cell factories, porosity management of membranes, electrochemical detection of biomolecules, gas and vapour barriers in packaging.
Main results
The morphology of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and hemicellulose layers in thin and thick films strongly suggests that hemicellulose is not a discrete layer on top of the CNCs but fills in the voids in the CNC layer, creating a mutually embedded structure much like that in the plant cell wall.
As an intriguing unexpected finding, novel hemicellulose nanocrystals were obtained in the shape of an anisotropic flake composed of xylan, forming crystallosolvates with DMSO.
The nanocrystals provide new insights into the structure of hemicellulose, leading to a new platform for hemicellulose-based material applications related to, for example, biomimetic toughening, drug delivery, biosensors, and bioactive systems.
Publications
Solhi, L., Guccini, V., Heise, K., Solala, I., Niinivaara, E., Xu, W., Mihhels, K., Kröger, M., Meng, Z., Wohlert, J., Tao, H., Cranston, E. D., & Kontturi, E. (2023). Understanding Nanocellulose-Water Interactions: Turning a Detriment into an Asset. Chemical Reviews, 123(5), 1925-2015. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.2c00611
Liljeström, T., Kontturi, K. S., Durairaj, V., Wester, N., Tammelin, T., Laurila, T., & Koskinen, J. (2023). Protein Adsorption and Its Effects on Electroanalytical Performance of Nanocellulose/Carbon Nanotube Composite Electrodes. Biomacromolecules, 24(8), 3806-3818. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.3c00449
Guccini, V., Phiri, J., Trifol, J., Rissanen, V., Mousavi, S. M., Vapaavuori, J., Tammelin, T., Maloney, T., & Kontturi, E. (2022). Tuning the Porosity, Water Interaction, and Redispersion of Nanocellulose Hydrogels by Osmotic Dehydration. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 4(1), 24-28. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.1c01430
Reishofer, D., Resel, R., Sattelkow, J., Fischer, W. J., Niegelhell, K., Mohan, T., Kleinschek, K. S., Amenitsch, H., Plank, H., Tammelin, T., Kontturi, E., & Spirk, S. (2022). Humidity Response of Cellulose Thin Films. Biomacromolecules, 23(3), 1148–1157. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.1c01446
Guccini, V., Yu, S., Meng, Z., Kontturi, E., Demmel, F., & Salazar-Alvarez, G. (2022). The Impact of Surface Charges of Carboxylated Cellulose Nanofibrils on the Water Motions in Hydrated Films. Biomacromolecules, 23(8), 3104-3115. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.1c01517
Rissanen, V., Vajravel, S., Kosourov, S., Arola, S., Kontturi, E., Allahverdiyeva, Y., & Tammelin, T. (2021). Nanocellulose-based mechanically stable immobilization matrix for enhanced ethylene production: a framework for photosynthetic solid-state cell factories. Green Chemistry, 23(10), 3715-3724. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1gc00502b
Meng, Z., Sawada, D., Laine, C., Ogawa, Y., Virtanen, T., Nishiyama, Y., Tammelin, T., & Kontturi, E. (2021). Bottom-up Construction of Xylan Nanocrystals in Dimethyl Sulfoxide. Biomacromolecules, 22(2), 898-906. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.0c01600
Heise, K., Kontturi, E., Allahverdiyeva, Y., Tammelin, T., Linder, M. B., Nonappa, & Ikkala, O. (2021). Nanocellulose : Recent Fundamental Advances and Emerging Biological and Biomimicking Applications. Advanced Materials, 33(3), [2004349]. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202004349
Research Project Managers
Eero Kontturi, Aalto
Tekla Tammelin, VTT
Project status
Funded by FinnCERES from September 2018 to December 2021.
The work has offered insights for other FinnCERES-funded projects such as CleanCELL, Microplastics as well as LA-FAST (see links below).
The research theme of utilizing water interactions is continuing in various externally funded projects such as
CoC SUPER co-creation project funded by Business Finland
Dual circuit flow battery for hydrogen and value added chemical production (DUALFLOW) funded by the EU
Analytical design of cellulose-based bone-like materials (CEBON) funded by Academy of Finland
Leaf-inspired nanocellulose frameworks for next generation photosynthetic cell-factories (FuturoLeaf) funded by the EU
IMD1 co-innovation project funded by Business Finland