9The current work reports a novel, completely water based approach to prepare the water resistant 10 modified cellulose nanopapers. Lactic acid in aqueous medium was attached on cellulose nanofibers 11 surface with the aid of ultra-sonication and later oligomerized (polymerized) by compression molding 12 under high temperature and pressure, to obtain the modified nanopapers with enhanced mechanical 13properties. The modified nanopapers showed an increase of 32% in the elastic modulus and 30% in the 14 yield strength over reference nanopapers. Additionally, the modified nanopaper was hydrophobic in 15 nature and had superior storage modulus under moist conditions. The storage modulus of wet modified 16 nanopaper was three times (2.4 GPa) compared to the reference nanopapers (0.8 GPa) after 1 hour 17 immersion in water. Finally, the thermal stability of the modified nanopaper was also higher than 18 reference nanopaper. The material reported is 100% bio-based. 19

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Cellulose nanoparticles (CNPs) were prepared from jute fiber by acid hydrolysis followed by highspeed homogenization. The CNPs were used as fillers in the production of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) nanocomposites by in situ suspension polymerization technique. The suspension polymerization of MMA was carried out in the presence of CNPs, which were dispersed in water medium and in situ PMMA/cellulose nanocomposite granules were formed. PMMA polymer, without any filler, was also prepared by similar suspension polymerization technique. PMMA and PMMA/cellulose nanocomposite films were prepared by solution casting method. Viscosity average molecular weights of neat PMMA and the PMMA extracted from PMMA/cellulose nanocomposite granules were determined by viscometric method and average molecular mass of PMMA extracted from PMMA/cellulose nanocomposites was found to be reduced than that of neat PMMA. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was performed to find out any chemical interaction between polymer matrix and the CNPs. X-ray diffraction study and differential scanning calorimetry were done to investigate the structures of the nanocomposite films and the glass transition temperature was found to be lower in the nanocomposite than that in the virgin polymer. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were done to examine the morphology of the films. Such an in situ suspension polymerization technique for the preparation of PMMA/cellulose nanocomposites can be very useful to prepare tailor-made materials.

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Cellulose micro/nanofibers (CNF), prepared from jute fibers were surface treated with methyl methacrylate (MMA) for better dispersion into poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix. PMMA/cellulose composites were prepared by in situ suspension polymerization technique. The surface treatment of CNF was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. MMA‐treated cellulose micro/nanofibers (MCNF) demonstrated improved affinity and dispersion in MMA monomer as well as in the PMMA/cellulose composites. Thermal properties of the cellulose composites were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The glass transition temperature (Tg) of PMMA increased by nearly 19°C in the in situ cellulose composites compared to that of unreinforced PMMA as indicated by DSC. TGA showed increased thermal stability of the cellulose composites. Enhanced tensile properties as well as significantly lower moisture uptake were observed in the in situ prepared PMMA/cellulose composites. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 39808.