Yang Xinxin, Yu Le, Zhang Bowen, Wang Yongheng, Jia Xiangzheng, Lizundia Erlantz, Chen Chang, Dong Fuhao, Qi Luhe, Chen Lu, Gao Enlai, Xu Xu, Liu He, Chen Chaoji
National Key Laboratory for Development and Utilization of Forest Food Resources, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China.
Hubei Biomass-Resource Chemistry and Environmental Biotechnology Key Laboratory, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Emerging Functional Coating Materials, School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 15;16(1):6523. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61722-0.
In response to the looming concerns of plastic pollution, replacing plastic with paper is a very promising way, but its realization seems a long way off due to the poor water resistance and unsatisfied mechanical strength of cellulose fibril-based materials. Herein, we develop a versatile functionalizing material consisting of mainly biobased cyclic carbonate-bearing compounds and amine compound, which can enable the rapid transformation (within 2 min under microwave radiation) of the cellulose paper into plastic-like material (named paper plastic) having an unprecedently high tensile strength of ~126 MPa. Through a systematic experimental and theoretical study, the paper plastic's combination of excellent mechanical properties and water/solvent resistance is attributed to the easy formation of carbamate abundant non-isocyanate polyurethane cooperated with the intermolecular bond exchange mechanism between the dynamic carbamate moiety and hydroxyl of the cellulose. Also, benefiting from the high content (>80%) and natural advantages of biobased materials, the paper plastic shows significant thermal stability, processability, and biodegradability than most petrochemical-based plastics, promising the great potential of dynamic carbamate chemistry toward high-performing paper plastic composites.
为应对迫在眉睫的塑料污染问题，用纸张替代塑料是一种非常有前景的方法，但由于基于纤维素原纤维的材料耐水性差和机械强度不理想，其实现似乎还很遥远。在此，我们开发了一种多功能功能化材料，主要由含生物基环状碳酸酯的化合物和胺化合物组成，它能使纤维素纸在微波辐射下2分钟内快速转化为具有前所未有的约126MPa高拉伸强度的类塑料材料（称为纸质塑料）。通过系统的实验和理论研究，纸质塑料优异的机械性能和耐水/溶剂性的结合归因于易于形成氨基甲酸酯丰富的非异氰酸酯聚氨酯，以及动态氨基甲酸酯部分与纤维素羟基之间的分子间键交换机制。此外，得益于生物基材料的高含量（>80%）和天然优势，纸质塑料比大多数石化基塑料表现出显著的热稳定性、加工性和生物降解性，这表明动态氨基甲酸酯化学在高性能纸质塑料复合材料方面具有巨大潜力。
