ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (Under Review)

ABSTRACT

Growing global interest in sustainability has always attracted ‘nanocellulose’ as a green candidate in vast areas of applications. Here, we report Co2+ cation-induced malonic acid/nanocellulose aerogels that show reversible thermochromism. This thermochromism is behind the transition from tetrahedral to octahedral geometry upon the interaction with water molecules in the moisture . The high surface area behaviour of aerogel structures makes this phenomenon more enhanced. Co(II) ions and malonic acid as components ensured the coordination and crosslinking functions by employing interactions with an extrinsic number of functional groups in TEMPO-oxidised cellulose nanofibers (TCNF) leading to the formation of hierarchically porous aerogel structures. Detailed characterisations of synthesised aerogels were carried out to evaluate the overall properties and performance. The reversible thermochromism performance of these hybrid aerogels was utilized for visible humidity sensing by designing an Android application. This green pathway of aerogel formation can be adopted for many vast areas with diverse metal ions and additives upon requirements.