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 on fairly simple, scalable, and efficient isolation techniques. Mechanical, chemical, and 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 e...

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Nanocellulose, a Versatile Green Platform: From Biosources to Materials and Their Applications

Innovative valorization of naturally abundant and renewable lignocellulosic biomass is of great importance in the pursuit of a sustainable future and biobased economy. Ionic liquids (ILs) as an important kind of green solvents and functional fluids have attracted significant attention for the catalytic transformation of lignocellulosic feedstocks into a diverse range of products. Taking advantage of some unique properties of ILs with different functions, the catalytic transformation processes can be carried out more efficiently and potentially with lower environmental impacts. Also, a new product portfolio may be derived from catalytic systems with ILs as media. This review focuses on the catalytic chemical conversion of lignocellulose and its primary ingredients (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) into value-added chemicals and fuel products using ILs as the reaction media. An outlook is provided at the end of this review to highlight the challenges and opportunities associated with this interes...

Catalytic Transformation of Lignocellulose into Chemicals and Fuel Products in Ionic Liquids

Ionic liquid with acidic properties is an important branch in the wide ionic liquid field and the aim of this article is to cover all aspects of these acidic ionic liquids, especially focusing on the developments in the last four years. The structural diversity and synthesis of acidic ionic liquids are discussed in the introduction sections of this review. In addition, an unambiguous classification system for various types of acidic ionic liquids is presented in the introduction. The physical properties including acidity, thermo-physical properties, ionic conductivity, spectroscopy, and computational studies on acidic ionic liquids are covered in the next sections. The final section provides a comprehensive review on applications of acidic ionic liquids in a wide array of fields including catalysis, CO2 fixation, ionogel, electrolyte, fuel-cell, membrane, biomass processing, biodiesel synthesis, desulfurization of gasoline/diesel, metal processing, and metal electrodeposition.

Acidic Ionic Liquids.

Carbon and graphene quantum dots (CQDs and GQDs), known as zero-dimensional (0D) nanomaterials, have been attracting increasing attention in sensing and bioimaging. Their unique electronic, fluores...

Review of Carbon and Graphene Quantum Dots for Sensing

Highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots derived from Phyllanthus acidus utilized as a fluorescent probe for label-free selective detection of Fe 3+ ions, live cell imaging and fluorescent ink.

Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped porous graphene aerogel as an efficient electrode material for high performance supercapacitor in ionic liquid electrolyte

Carbon dots (CDs) as versatile carbon-based nanomaterials have attracted increasing attention because of their non-toxicity, good water solubility and photostability, and easy surface functionalization. For their wide application, it is still needed to explore moderate and facile methods for synthesizing CDs from green and inexpensive precursors. In this paper, a moderate method was developed to synthesize water-soluble CDs by ionothermal treatment of cellulose with SO3H-functionalized acidic ionic liquid as a catalyst in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Bmim]Cl). The preparation process was carried out at relatively low temperature in non-pressurized vessel. The synthesized CDs exhibit near-spherical morphology with an average diameter of 8.0 nm, and the surface is carbon and oxygen rich. The CDs have powder-blue fluorescence with excitation-dependent emission behavior and excellent stability. Moreover, the as-prepared CDs were demonstrated as an effective “turn-off” fluorescent probe for the selective detection of Hg2+ with a good linear relationship over the concentration range from 6 to 80 μM. The application of acidic ionic liquid should provide a new path for the synthesis of CDs under mild condition.

Synthesis of cellulose-derived carbon dots using acidic ionic liquid as a catalyst and its application for detection of Hg2+

Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene aerogel with hierarchically porous structure for high-performance supercapacitors

Hydrolysis of cellulose catalyzed by novel acidic ionic liquids

Extensive applications of ionic liquids (ILs) may result in their accumulation in the ecological environment and organisms. Although ILs are popularly called "green solvents", their toxicity, in fact, has been exhibited. Therefore the interaction of ILs with biomolecules is a cutting-edge research subject. Herein, the interactions of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium carboxylate ionic liquids ([C(4)mim][HCOO], [C(4)mim][CH(3)COO] and [C(4)mim][CH(3)CH(2)COO]) with glucose in water were studied for their volumetric properties, viscosity, conductivity and NMR spectra. Limiting apparent molar volumes (V(Φ, IL)(0)), viscosity B-coefficients, limiting molar conductivities (Λ(0)) and Walden products (Λ(0)η(0)) were evaluated for the ILs in glucose + water solutions. Volumetric interaction parameters were also obtained from the transfer volumes of the ionic liquids. The contributions of the solvent properties (B(1)) and the ionic liquid-solvent interactions (B(2)) to the B-coefficient were extracted, together with molar activation energies (Δμ(IL)(0≠)) of the ionic liquids for viscous flow of the aqueous glucose + IL solution. In addition, the (13)C and (1)H NMR spectra of methyl β-D-glucopyranoside and ILs in β-D-glucopyranoside + IL + D(2)O were studied. The NMR results show that no special and strong interactions were observed between glucopyranoside and the ILs. However, it was confirmed that the H2 on the imidazolium ring has more activity (acidity) than atoms H4 and H5. The macro-properties and their changes were also discussed in terms of the size, structure and solvation of the ILs and glucose.

Interactions of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium carboxylate ionic liquids with glucose in water: a study of volumetric properties, viscosity, conductivity and NMR

Yujuan Chen

Papers

Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped porous graphene aerogel as an efficient electrode material for high performance supercapacitor in ionic liquid electrolyte

Synthesis of cellulose-derived carbon dots using acidic ionic liquid as a catalyst and its application for detection of Hg2+

Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene aerogel with hierarchically porous structure for high-performance supercapacitors

Hydrolysis of cellulose catalyzed by novel acidic ionic liquids

Interactions of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium carboxylate ionic liquids with glucose in water: a study of volumetric properties, viscosity, conductivity and NMR