Recent progress in selected bio-nanomaterials and their engineering applications: An overview

Abstract

Nowadays, the rapid climate change, water pollution and harmful gas emissions are largely caused by the extensive use of petrochemicals and the burning of plastic materials. The government authorities across the globe and experts mentioned that the dumping of plastic waste and non-biodegradable materials is a principal problem of the environmental pollution. In their numerous chemical forms, cellulose and various other biodegradable materials can be possible alternatives to resolve these challenging issues. This review article is an effort to combine the recent developments, concerns and prospective applications of environmentally friendly nano- with micro-structured polymeric materials such as chitin, starch, polycaprolactone and nanocellulose. Nanocellulose has been considered as one of the most important biopolymers having significant advancements in research and their application in the various fields. Herein, cellulose-based materials for engineering and interdisciplinary applications, comprising approaches for the transformation of cellulose to nanocellulose, and the fabrication method for their blends and composites have been reviewed. Moreover, the structural-functional relationship, the thermo-mechanical properties of starch, poly (Lactic) acid, polycaprolactone, lignin and some of their composite and potential applications of these materials in various fields of engineering have been elaborated. Keywords: Green materials, Biopolymers, Cellulose, Nanocellulose, Biodegradable materials