Self-assembled lignin-silica hybrid material derived from rice husks as the sustainable reinforcing fillers for natural rubber.

Biomass derived fillers have been developed as sustainable substitution of carbon black (CB) used in rubber industry to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels. Lignin is the abundant component of biomass, but has poor reinforcing performance due to its huge particle size. In this work, we prepared a lignin/silica (LS) hybrid material from rice husks via a facile self-assembly method.