With increasing environmental and ecological concerns due to the use of petroleum based chemicals and products, the synthesis of fine chemicals and functional materials from natural resources is of great public value. Nanocellulose may prove to be one of the most promising green materials of modern times due to its intrinsic properties, renewability and abundance. In this review, we present nanocellulose-based materials from sourcing, synthesis, and surface modification of nanocellulose, to materials formation and applications. Nanocellulose can be sourced from biomass, plants or bacteria, relying of fairly simple, scalable and efficient isolation techniques. Mechanical, chemical, enzymatic treatments, or a combination of these, can be used to extract nanocellulose from natural sources. The properties of nanocellulose are dependent on the source, the isolation technique and potential subsequent surface transformations. Nanocellulose surface modification techniques are typically used to introduce either charged or hydrophobic moieties, and include: amidation, esterification, etherification, silylation, polymerization, urethanization, sulfonationand phosphorylation. Nanocellulose has excellent strength, Young's modulus, biocompatibility, and tunable self-assembly, thixotropic and photonic properties, which are essential for the applications of this material. Nanocellulose participates in the fabrication of a large range of nanomaterials and nanocomposites, including those based on polymers, metals, metal oxides and carbon. In particular, nanocellulose complements organic-based materials, where it imparts its mechanical properties to the composite. Nanocellulose is a promising material whenever material strength, flexibility and/or specific nanostructuring are required. Applications include functional paper, optoelectronics and antibacterial coatings, packaging, mechanically reinforced polymer composites, tissue scaffolds, drug delivery, biosensors, energy storage, catalysis, environmental remediation and 3 electrochemical controlled separation. Phosphorylated nanocellulose is a particularly interesting material, spanning a surprising set of applications in various dimensions including bone scaffolds, adsorbents, flame retardants and as a support for the heterogenization of homogeneous catalysts.

No abstract

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) is a physical phenomenon exhibited by nanoparticles of metals including coinage metals, alkali metals, aluminum, and some semiconductors which translates into electromagnetic, thermal, and chemical properties. In the past decade, LSPR has been taken advantage of in the context of catalysis. While plasmonic nanoparticles (PNPs) have been successfully applied toward enhancing catalysis of inorganic reactions such as water splitting, they have also demonstrated exciting performance in the catalysis of organic transformations with potential applications in synthesis of molecules from commodity to pharmaceutical compounds. The advantages of this approach include improved selectivity, enhanced reaction rates, and milder reaction conditions. This review provides the basics of LSPR theory, details the mechanisms at play in plasmon-enhanced nanocatalysis, sheds light onto such nanocatalyst design, and finally systematically presents the breadth of organic reactions hence catalyzed.

Nanocellulose has recently been intensely studied a support for metal nanoparticles with special attention to applications in catalysis. This emerging field is reviewed therein.