Technological watch

Abstract Cellulose films have aroused widespread interest by virtue of its promising processing performance, biodegradability, and good final properties, but the insufficient waterproof property limits their application, especially in packaging field. Herein, hydrophobic modified graphene oxide nanosheets (GONS)/cellulose nanofiber (CNF) (H-mGONS/CNF) films with favourable water resistance was fabricated via successive casting technique and dip-coating process. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) manifested that highly oriented GONS/CNF nanocomposites were wrapped between the hydrophobic layers, forming a sandwich-like structure with a smooth surface and dense structure. This unique structure endows the H-mGONS/CNF composite films with excellent environmental characteristics, such as waterproofness, thermal stability, mechanical properties, self-cleaning and strong resistance to exfoliation. This work enables ecofriendly development of H-mGONS/CNF films with superior water repellency properties for many industrial applications including food packaging, biomedical products and protective coatings.