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Microhoneycomb Monoliths Prepared by the Unidirectional Freeze-drying of Cellulose Nanofiber Based Sols: Method and Extensions
Published on: May 24, 2018
Microhoneycomb Monoliths Prepared by the Unidirectional Freeze-drying of Cellulose Nanofiber Based Sols: Method and
Zheng-Ze Pan1, Hirotomo Nishihara2, Wei Lv3
1Engineering Laboratory for Functionalized Carbon Materials and Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Graphene-based Materials, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University; School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University.
Abstract:
Monolithic honeycomb structures have been attractive to multidisciplinary fields due to their high strength-to-weight ratio. Particularly, microhoneycomb monoliths (MHMs) with micrometer-scale channels are expected as efficient platforms for reactions and separations because of their large surface areas. Up to now, MHMs have been prepared by a unidirectional freeze-drying (UDF) method only from very limited precursors. Herein, we report a protocol from which a series of MHMs consisting of different components can be obtained. Recently, we found that cellulose nanofibers function as a distinct structure-directing agent towards the formation of MHMs through the UDF process. By mixing the cellulose nanofibers with water soluble substances which do not yield MHMs, a variety of composite MHMs can be prepared. This significantly enriches the chemical constitution of MHMs towards versatile applications.
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