Fabrication of Polycaprolactone/nanocellulose composite based on Pickering emulsion template stabilized by lignin particles

Increasing the need for evolution of sustainable products has recently driven huge interest to develop biobased composites as eco-friendly alternatives for petroleum-based materials. Cellulose nanofibril (CNF) reinforced composites have extensively shown great potential in this field due to their high abundance, renewability, biodegradability, and superior mechanical properties. However, their hydrophilic nature induced incompatibility with many hydrophobic polymer matrixes that has limited their use. In the present work, lignin nanoparticles stabilized Pickering emulsion template was introduced for the first time to incorporation of CNF into the polymer matrix for developing nanocomposite materials. The obtained biobased composite films exhibited proper mechanical properties that demonstrate the high potential in many fields such as packaging and biomedical applications. Additionally, comprehensive literature survey will be presented in this work including, the introduction of lignocellulosic biomass and its constituents, lignin structure, most important methods for extraction of lignin from lignocellulosic biomass, transforming lignin into colloidal particles, and evaluating its high value-added applications