A new and eco-friendly mussel-inspired surface modification pathway for bamboo fiber (BF) is presented in this study. The self-assembly polydopamine (PDA) coating can firmly adhere on BF surface, which also serves as a bridge to graft octadecylamine (ODA) for hydrophobic surface preparation. The as-formed PDA/ODA hybrid layer could supply abundant hydrophobic long-chain alkyls groups and generated a marked increase in BF surface roughness and a marked decrease in surface free energy. These changes provided advantages to improve fiber⁻matrix interfacial adhesion and wettability. Consequently, high performance was achieved by incorporating the hybrid modified BF into the polybutylene succinate (PBS) matrix. The resultant composite exhibited excellent mechanical properties, particularly tensile strength, which markedly increased by 77.2%. Meanwhile, considerable high water resistance with an absorption rate as low as 5.63% was also achieved. The gratifying macro-performance was primarily attributed to the excellent interfacial adhesion attained by hydrogen bonding and physical intertwining between the PDA/ODA coating on the BF and the PBS matrix, which was further determined by fracture morphology observations and dynamic mechanical analysis. Owing to the superior adhesive capacity of PDA, this mussel-inspired surface modification method may result in wide-ranging applications in polymer composites and be adapted to all natural fibers.
Keywords: bamboo fiber; biocomposite performances; fiber functionalization; interfacial properties; mussel inspired polydopamine; polybutylene succinate.