Affiliations 

  • 1 Henan Province Engineering Research Center For Biomass Value-Added Products, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
  • 2 Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu 21030, Malaysia
  • 3 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China
  • 4 Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
  • 5 Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas 76203, United States
  • 6 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Methodist University, P.O. Box 750100, Dallas, Texas 75205, United States
  • 7 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2020 Jul 08;12(27):30824-30832.
PMID: 32544314 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c07448

Abstract

We used an innovative approach involving hot pressing, low energy consumption, and no adhesive to transform bamboo biomass into a natural sustainable fiber-based biocomposite for structural and furniture applications. Analyses showed strong internal bonding through mechanical "nail-like" nano substances, hydrogen, and ester and ether bonds. The biocomposite encompasses a 10-fold increase in internal bonding strength with improved water resistance, fire safety, and environmentally friendly properties as compared to existing furniture materials using hazardous formaldehyde-based adhesives. As compared to natural bamboo material, this new biocomposite has improved fire and water resistance, while there is no need for toxic adhesives (mostly made from formaldehyde-based resin), which eases the concern of harmful formaldehyde-based VOC emission and ensures better indoor air quality. This surpasses existing structural and furniture materials made by synthetic adhesives. Interestingly, our approach can 100% convert discarded bamboo biomass into this biocomposite, which represents a potentially cost reduction alternative with high revenue. The underlying fragment riveting and cell collapse binding are obviously a new technology approach that offers an economically and sustainable high-performance biocomposite that provides solutions to structural and furniture materials bound with synthetic adhesives.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.