Construction of multiple crosslinked networks for the preparation of high-performance lignin-containing cellulose nanofiber reinforced polyvinyl alcohol films

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film, a promising alternative to non-biodegradable plastic packaging films for food and medical packaging, is limited by poor water resistance. In this work, a simple solvent evaporation self-assembly was used to construct a nanophase separation structure to establish dense interfacial hydrogen bonding, covalent bonding and iron metal ion coordination interactions between lignin-containing cellulose nanofibers (LCNFs) and PVA matrix to improve the interfacial force and solve the problem of poor compatibility of LCNFs in PVA. The iron ion (Fe3+) coordination tended to combine with the more active lignin phenolic hydroxyl group to construct the nanophase separation structure. Covalent crosslinking of glutaraldehyde (GA) improved the interfacial compatibility of PVA/LCNF films, enhanced the interfacial bonding and formed a homogeneous structure. The multi-nanophase structures improved the strength and elastic modulus of the PVA/LCNF film and provided the films with extremely low water absorption, water vapor transmission rate and excellent UV-shielding. Compared with pure PVA film, PVA-10L-5Fe-3GA film had about 106.9 % higher tensile strength, 93.9 % lower water absorption and 93.4 % lower mass loss, 69.8 % lower water vapor transmission coefficient, and was able to shield UV at 200-400 nm, which is highly expected to be used in packaging films.