Abstract
Cellulose paper is a promising sustainable alternative to replace plastic films, but its mechanical weakness limits practical applications. While strategies, such as molecular alignment and composite reinforcement, can enhance strength, their complex and costly processing hinders scalable production. We present a dynamic interfacial fusion strategy that dramatically enhances the mechanical strength of commercial nanofibril and microfibril cellulose papers, achieving universal applicability across diverse raw material sources. We demonstrate that metastable swelling of cellulose molecules triggers spontaneous interfacial fused entanglement, unlocking an approximately 73.8% enhancement of strength. The tensile strength of fused cellulose paper is up to 203.4 MPa, surpassing most conventional plastic films. This simple swelling-fusion process enables large-scale production of high-strength papers with lengths exceeding 100 m and is compatible with diverse paper sources, including bamboo, cotton, wood pulp, and even commercial papers (A4 paper and cellophane). Furthermore, the intermolecular fusion imparts self-adhesion properties to the cellulose papers without requiring chemical adhesives, offering a green pathway to fabricate robust three-dimensional assemblies. This universal fusion strategy bridges the gap between sustainable cellulose materials and industrial-scale production, offering a viable plastic alternative for applications in daily packaging, electronics, and biomedical components.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2024YFA1210700, 2022YFA1205300, 2022YFA1205301), "Pioneer" and "Leading Goose" R&D Program of Zhejiang (2023C01190) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52502120, 52573027). We acknowledge Sudan Shen and Kezhen Hu for their assistance in performing TEM analyses at State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Low-carbon Technology in Zhejiang University.
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Junsheng Wang: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, visualization, writing (original draft) and writing (review & editing); Lu Chen: investigation and visualization; Kaiwen Li: visualization; Hanxu Zhou: investigation; Hua Yuan and Yingjun Liu: supervision; Kai Pang and Zhen Xu: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, writing (original draft) and writing (review & editing); Cong Du: methodology, supervision, writing (original draft) and writing (review & editing).
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Wang, J., Chen, L., Li, K. et al. Dynamic Interfacial Fusion Enables Scalable Production of Mechanically Robust Self‐Adhesive Cellulose Paper. Adv. Fiber Mater. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-026-00790-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-026-00790-3