Application Research Progress of Cellulose-Based Aerogels

With the rapid development of modern industry, the dual threats of the depletion of nonrenewable energy and the environmental pollution caused by petroleum-based polymers motivate utilization of naturally occurring polymers to create new “green” materials. Cellulose, as the most abundant natural polymer on earth, has attracted attention due to its renewability, wide availability, low-cost, biocompatibility and biodegradability, etc. Meanwhile, Cellulose aerogel, as the new generation succeeding the inorganic and hybrid polymer-based aerogel, has attracted extensive interest from both academia and industry, attributing to the combination of the advantages of highly porous materials and the characteristics of natural-polymer materials. It possesses a high surface area, high porosity and extremely low density as same as previous aerogel, but also shows some unique properties such as renewability, easy degradability and biocompatibility, good mechanical properties and ductility, which give it potential value in the field of heat insulation, adsorption, catalysis, electricity and magnetism, biomaterial and pharmaceutical, etc. This review aims to describe new research progress of cellulose aerogel on the performance and functionality, and summarize the recent development of cellulose-based aerogel in various regions based on dissolving cellulose, preparation and modification.