Regenerated cellulose/polyvinyl alcohol composite films with high transparency and ultrahigh haze for multifunctional light management

Caimei Zhao; Xinhu Gong; Xiaotian Lin; Chaoqun Zhang; Yang Wang

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121303

Regenerated cellulose/polyvinyl alcohol composite films with high transparency and ultrahigh haze for multifunctional light management

Carbohydr Polym. 2023 Dec 1:321:121303. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121303. Epub 2023 Aug 23.

Authors

Caimei Zhao¹, Xinhu Gong², Xiaotian Lin³, Chaoqun Zhang⁴, Yang Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China. Electronic address: zhaocaimei1998@stu.scau.edu.cn.
² Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China. Electronic address: 13597537906@stu.scau.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China. Electronic address: zhangcq@scau.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, 483 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510642, China. Electronic address: wangyang@scau.edu.cn.

PMID: 37739533
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121303

Abstract

In this study, cellulose composite films (CCFs) were fabricated through controllable dissolution and regeneration process of cellulose with the addition of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The competition of hydrogen bond site between cellulose and PVA led to partial dissolution of cellulose and maintained morphology of micron fibers with width range from 14.55 to 16.16 μm, which served as in-situ visible light scatterers. With this unique micron structure, the obtained CCF exhibited high transparency up to 90.5 % at 550 nm and ultrahigh haze up to 96 %. Interestingly, CCF could be used as hazy and flexible substrate, such as scattering lamp covers for indoor light management, anti-glare screen protectors and anti-reflection layers of solar cell devices. Among them, the efficiency of the solar cell device could be improved by 10.38 % with the help of a low-cost, excellent-performance CCF.

Keywords: High transparency; Light management; Regenerated cellulose film; Tunable haze.