Nanocellulose extraction from lignocellulosic materials and its potential applications: a review

All plants naturally contain cellulose which is a linear biopolymer. In addition to being the most common natural polymeric material on the global scale, it also has numerous advantages, such as comparatively low density, good biocompatibility, as well as noteworthy mechanical strength at a reasonable price. Lignocellulosic materials are generally converted into cellulose nanofibers or cellulose nanocrystals, commonly known as nanocellulose using mechanical or chemical or a combination of both the methods. In recent years, nanocellulose has appeared as one of the most notable green materials for diverse applications. Nanoscaled cellulose has also achieved commendable recognition owing to its intrinsic properties like more surface area, high mechanical strength, abundance and renewability, less toxicity, biocompatibility, decomposability making it a perfect and ideal nanomaterial. This review provides a broad introduction to nanocellulose, its types and various methods of extraction. In addition, a number of recent and forthcoming applications for nanocellulose have also been discussed, including wood adhesives, surface coatings, biomedical, wastewater treatment and in developing novel bio-based nanocomposites.