Alain Dufresne

Grenoble Institute of Technology | Grenoble INP · Paper Science, Print Media and Biomaterials

Core-shell (CS) hydrogels show great potential for the controlled release of fertilizers. In this work, we prepared an alginate-coated gelatin-cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) hydrogel by a simple layer-by-layer process. CNCs were prepared from cotton linter fibers by the sulfuric acid process. They were incorporated into the gelatin hydrogel, and an...

Cellulose II nanofibers (R-CNFs) were isolated from Egyptian bleached bagasse pulp fibers via dissolution in N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO) and regeneration. The quality and features of the R-CNFs suspension were optically and morphologically characterized and compared to those obtained from two conventional CNFs prepared from pretreated native...

The objective of the present study is to develop an environment friendly alternative material based on available and local bio-source from the wastes of Algerian date palm trees, date palm twigs fiber (DPF) was selected as an effective reinforcing material for Hight density polyethylene (HDPE) biocomposite. Two types of treatments have been used in...

Chemical modification in surface of cellulose nanofibrils CNFs (20 nm) from an endemic and non-significant value-added, Argentine bamboo, was developed. The modification in the CNFs was carried out with three simple routes using a low molecular weight polylactic acid synthesized in our laboratory (PLA1). The first step comprises of protection of th...

The growing interest in nano‐starch materials offers the opportunity to develop biomaterials for distinctive use in food, medicine, cosmetics, and other fields. The conceptual framework about the various changes in the properties of starch‐based films after incorporation of nano starch particles were reported. Starch‐based packaging films have not...

The need to preserve nature has led researchers to explore new natural fibers for biodegradable biocomposites. Present work explored first time the thermo-physico-chemical, morphological, and mechanical properties of Yucca treculeana (YT) fiber with a density of 1.330 ± 0.039 g/cm3. The estimated chemical analysis of YT fiber is 82.3%, 12.1% and 5....

TEMPO-Oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (toCNF), in the form of highly entangled network such as membrane or cryogels, have proven to be of interest for various applications, including drug release or purification by pollutant adsorption. β-Cyclodextrins (β-CDs) have the ability to form inclusion complexes with large amount of hydrophobic molecules, a...

To achieve synergistic reinforcing and cross-linking effect across interface between hydrophilic nanocellulose and hydrophobic rubber, active thiol groups were introduced at reducing end of CNF while retaining hydroxyl groups on the surface, thus forming a percolation network in nanocomposites. The nanocomposites were obtained by casting/evaporatin...

Nanocelluloses are promising bio-nano-materials for use as water treatment materials in environmental protection and remediation. Over the past decades, they have been integrated via novel nanoengineering approaches for water treatment processes. This review aims at giving an overview of nanocellulose requirements concerning emerging nanotechnologi...

This work aimed to study the use of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) from coir husk fibers to develop nanocomposite hydrogels. Cellulose and lignin were obtained from coir husk using the steam explosion pretreatment, followed by alkaline-ethanol-water pretreatment and bleaching process. CNFs from coir husk fibers were obtained using a high-speed blender...

Polymer actuators with fast stimulus responsiveness and programmable deformation have received continuous attention in the fields of biomedicine, intelligent biosensors, and soft robotics. More stringent requirements are now demanded on biocompatibility, controllable deformation and mechanical properties of the actuator. In this study, a simple int...

Sustainable and high-performance thermoset composites have recently drawn extensive attention in industry and academia. Herein, we report an epoxy vitrimer composite with excellent recyclability and mechanical properties reinforced with regenerated cellulose (RC). The RC filler was prepared from natural softwood pulp and integrated into the composi...

As part of local agricultural date palm waste valorization, this work describes bio-composites made with a cement matrix reinforced with short Mesh date palm fibers for non-structural civil engineering applications. The study focuses in particular on investigating the influence of four parameters on the bending and compression properties of the bio...

This study reports a green and powerful strategy for preparing cellulose nanocrystal (CNC)/graphene oxide (GO)/natural rubber (NR) nanocomposites hosting a 3D hierarchical conductive network. Due to good dispersibility and amphiphilic nature of CNC, well dispersed CNC/GO nanohybrids were prepared. Hydrogen bonding interactions between CNC and GO gr...

Huge amounts of rice straw are left every year in different areas of the world; these residues still cause environmental problems due to un-safe practices such as burning. Isolation of nanomaterials such as cellulose nanofibers represents an effective way for utilization of rice straw in advanced products. The current work aimed at evaluating the p...

Typha domingensis (Cattail) fiber is a significant natural resource, abundant in cellulose. The study reports the useful utilization of T. domingensis fiber for physicochemical impregnation of silver nanoparticles and benzalkonium chloride, in the development of a material with antimicrobial activity. The fibers were pre‐treated with alkaline hydro...

"Egyptian agricultural wastes were used for preparing advanced cellulosic derivatives possessing liquid crystalline properties. Cellulose was successfully isolated in pure form from Egyptian bagasse pulp. Hydroxypropylation was carried out on the obtained cellulose and the liquid crystalline properties were investigated. The prepared hydroxypropyl...

In this work, from an endemic and non-significant value-added bamboo argentine, nanofibrils (CNFs) of 20 nm in width were obtained. These nanofibrils were chemical modified in surface with three simple steps using a noncommercial low molecular weight polylactic acid. The success of modification was confirmed by FTIR, TGA, DSC and XRD analysis. The...

In this work, the peel of Arapey Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas), a vegetable waste, was used as a source of phenolic compounds which are widely recognized as beneficial antioxidants for human health. The extract obtained from Ipomoea batatas exhibited an antioxidant activity significantly higher than many antioxidant agents reported in literature (...

A huge variety of plants are harvested worldwide and their different constituents can be converted into a broad range of bionanomaterials. In parallel, much research effort in materials science and engineering is focused on the formation of nanoparticles and nanostructured materials originating from agricultural residues. Cellulose (40–50%), hemice...

In contrast to existing methods that add specific substances to poly(l‐lactic acid)/poly(d‐lactic acid) racemic blends to enhance stereocomplexation, in this study, a crosslinkable epoxy resin (EP) was introduced into a racemic blend. The results showed that, when the mass ratio of EP to racemic blend was 0.2:1 (EP:racemic blend = 0.2), regardless...

Bio-based composites provide an improved sustainability and carbon footprint compared to conventional composites. In this context, this study aims in developing and characterizing green composites using a novel natural fibers-fabric formed by interconnected network of fibers struts with intricate structures isolated from Opuntia (Cactaceae) as rein...

Algeria is the largest country in Africa by in terms of land area, which makes it contain large quantities of agricultural residues. The aim of this study is the valorisation of the huge amount of agricultural residue of date palm rachis available in Algeria to be used as reinforcement in bio-composite materials for various industrial applications....

This work aims to optimize the physico-chemical and tensile properties of vascular fibers extracted from a local date palm rachis in Algeria. This fiber has a very specific composition and architecture and is different from the remaining fibers obtained from the six possible parts of the tree. For this purpose, a Taguchi orthogonal array design L16...

In this investigation, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was functionalized with metformin HCl using (3-chloropropyl)triethixysilane (CPTES) as a coupling agent. Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes were incorporated with different concentrations of modified MCC (MMCC) to enhance its affinity for heavy metals during filtration of aqueous solutions. The...

The gradiented sulfonation was performed on the surface modification of cellulose nanocrystals by conjugate addition with sodium vinyl sulfonate moities. The self-assembly behaviors of modified nanocrystals in the liquid state...

Cellulose was and still is the most abundant biopolymer generated from all plant fibers including agricultural wastes. Using this waste as a starting material in the production of new products is a field of great interest. The demand for renewable and available resources in combination with advanced technologies is a necessity to develop new genera...

Characterizing the mechanical properties of polymer coatings typically requires access to specialty equipment, the analysis through which can be tedious despite instrumental precision. An alternative method reported in the literature, strain-induced elastic buckling instability for mechanical measurements (SIEBIMM), is a high throughput, facile yet...

This work aimed in preparing nanocelluloses from a unique source of cellulose, viz. phormium (Phormiun tenax) fibers, by different techniques; and evaluate their physicochemical and structural properties. It was possible to obtain cellulose nanofibrils with different sizes (diameter, length and aspect ratio), morphology, crystallinity and surface c...

Wood-based TEMPO-oxidised cellulose nanofibrils (toCNF) are promising materials for biomedical applications. Cyclodextrins have ability to form inclusion complexes with hydrophobic molecules and are considered as a method to bring new functionalities to these materials. Water sorption and mechanical properties are also key properties for biomedical...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) exhibit remarkable properties such as being lightweight, renewability, nanoscale dimension, raw material availability, and a unique morphology. They have been widely used in film-forming composites, but the literature is scarce concerning bulky-composites (i.e., non-filmogenic). Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is widel...

Microfibrillar and droplet morphology of polypropylene (PP) phase dispersed in polypropylene (PS) was fabricated by using melt-extrusion. This morphology was obtained by introducing isotactic PP (20 wt.%) with different viscosity in the PS matrix (80 wt.%). Furthermore, the rheological properties of the blend investigated as a function of the visco...

This work describes the quasi-static tensile behavior and cyclic fatigue of technical fibers from date palm tested for the first time according to the authors' knowledge, which can be used in the reinforcement of green composites.The values of the stress and strain at failure and Young's modulus for18 samples tested under quasi-static tensile loadi...

In recent years, sustainable nanopolysaccharides, such as cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and chitin nanocrystals (ChNC) have been explored for improving the efficiency of environment prevention and purification. The potential application is attributed to their biodegradability, sustainability, renewability, biocompatibili...

Soap-free emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate (AVM) in the presence of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) was performed using persulfate/metabisulfite as initiator. The effect of the addition of MPEG comonomer on the locus of CNCs with respect to polymer particles was investigated. It was shown that the presence of MPEG strongly favors the accumula...

There is current interest in active packaging, where the packaging material exhibits desirable functions in addition to containment of product. One of these functions is to reduce the oxygen content in the package in order to minimize product oxidation and spoilage, and prolong product shelf-life. In this work, we have developed novel nanocomposite...

This study focuses on the chemical and thermo-physical characterization of date palm fiber, which can be used in the reinforcement of green composites. Alkaline solutions with different concentrations of NaOH (0.5, 1, 2 and 3%) and various immersion times (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8h) at room temperature were used to treat fibers obtained from date palm...

Purpose of Review The potential of nanotechnology and nanocomposites in various sectors of research and application is promising and attracting increasing investment. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the preparation of nanomaterials from different cellulosic sources including wood. The transformation of cellulose down to the nano...

Date palm rachis fibers are rich in cellulose, relatively inexpensive, and readily available in Algeria. The aim of this study is to investigate the morphology, structure, mechanical and physicochemical characteristics of both vascular bundles and fiber strands extracted from date palm rachis. The difficulties encountered are associated to the extr...

This study focuses on investigating the phenomena involved in the formation of the concentration polarization and fouling layer during the cross-flow ultrafiltration process of cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) suspensions. Thanks to new cross-flow ultrafiltration cells specially designed experiments of firstly time resolved in-situ small angle X-ray sca...

Generally produced by solvent sublimation via freeze-drying or critical point drying treatment, nanocellulose-based aerogels have attracted considerable interest offering the features of sustainability, available surface reactivity, light weight, high porosity and specific surface area. This study presents a novel strategy for the preparation of fl...

Micro-Fibrillated Celluloses (MFC) are materials of interest for barrier applications. However, due to their cost, low solids and high viscosity, MFC are often either difficult to apply at paper surface or not cost competitive. CTP and CNRS have developed a new concept, the MFC wet lamination technology, to deposit a MFC layer at the surface of pap...

Nanocellulose, an easily accessible nanofiller for the fabrication of novel nanocomposites, consists of cellulose nanocrystals, cellulose nanofibers, and bacterial celluloses. Generally, unlike inorganic fillers, nanocellulose enjoys exclusive properties of high aspect ratio, high specific modulus, relatively good surface reactivity, and nontoxicit...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are widely used in the polymer composites to improve their performance and expand the application of the polymer matrix. This chapter discusses the information on percolation and interface interactions between CNCs and the matrix. In these nanocomposite materials, interfacial phenomena are expected to be important owin...

The development of nanocellulose has received immense consideration in the last few decades owing to its unique features, available production, morphological variations, and facile surface modification. It possesses high mechanical properties, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and renewability. The presence of free hydroxyl (OH) groups on its sur...

New trends in the area of material improvement are the use of natural nano-charges from renewable biomass, improving the value and sustainability of our country’s natural products. Bamboo is widely used in many countries of the world, although in Argentina, despite being commercialized and exported for the manufacture of wood floors, it goes unnoti...

This book describes the latest research on nanopolysaccharides in the development of functional materials, from their preparation, properties and functional modifications to the architecture of diverse functional materials. Polysaccharide-based nanoparticles, including nanocellulose, nanochitin, and nanostarch have attracted interest in the field o...

Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), once filtered and dried, have the particularity to form a highly cohesive network, nanopaper. One of the drawbacks of all CNF nanopapers is their relative brittleness and low tear resistance, measured as the force needed for crack propagation after introducing a notch. In this work, hybrid nanopapers with drastically im...

Paper was impregnated with neat polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) or cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) reinforced PVOH, and dried by infrared. Complex phenomena involved during paper impregnation and drying have been rarely investigated in the scientific literature, although these steps are crucial for the properties of ensuing paper. The drying kinetics was stud...

3D printed scaffolds were prepared by partial crosslinking of TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibril/alginate hydrogel using calcium ions for printing the hydrogel while maintaining its shape, fidelity and preventing collapse of the filaments. The prepared scaffolds were fully crosslinked using calcium ions immediately after printing to provide the ri...

The demand for the use of biomass as the source of renewable energy and materials has exploded during the last years in response to socio-economic and environmental issues. Suitable chemical or mechanical treatments can be applied to produce materials with dimensions in the nanometer range from many naturally occurring sources of cellulose. These n...

Nanocellulose has generated a great deal of interest as a source of nanometer-sized reinforcement, because of its good mechanical properties. In the last few years, nanocellulose has also attracted much attention due to environmental concerns. This review presents an overview of recent developments in this area, including the production, characteri...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are considered as one of the most attractive renewable reinforcements for biodegradable polymers due to their promising properties and broad range of applications in several fields. However, the knowledge of CNCs effect on the overall properties of these CNC-based nanocomposites is not fully clarified. This review prop...

Nanotechnology has been identified as having great potential for improving efficiency of water prevention and purification, and meanwhile reducing costs. In this field, two applications of nanocellulose have generated attention and proved sound strategy, viz. as adsorbent and as membrane for the removal of contaminants. This potential is attributed...

Since the global warming potential and environmental toxicity are increasing in recent years, which has led the scientific and industrial communities to focus their interests on the use of materials of natural and ecological origin focusing their research topics on recyclable, renewable and sustainable materials with less impact on nature. It would...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and nanofibrils (CNF) were obtained by acid hydrolyzis and mechanical treatment, respectively, of cellulosic fibers from paper. Additionally, surface modification was performed for CNC by neutralization (NaOH) and oxidation (TEMPO). The thermal stability, surface properties and rheological behavior of these nanomaterial...