Recent Developments in Cellulose Nanomaterial Composites.

Cellulose nanomaterials (CNMs) are a class of materials that have recently garnered attention in fields as varied as structural materials, biomaterials, rheology modifiers, construction, paper enhancement, and others. As the principal structural reinforcement of biomass giving wood its mechanical properties, CNM is strong and stiff, but also nontoxic, biodegradable, and sustainable with a very large (Gton yr ) source. Unfortunately, due to the relatively young nature of the field and inherent incompatibility of CNM with most man-made materials in use today, research has tended to be more basic-science oriented rather than commercially applicable, so there are few CNM-enabled products on the market today.