A Renewable, Rehealable, and Degradable Bamboo Fiber-Reinforced Cellulose-Based Dynamic Imine Polymer as a Plastic Substitute

A cellulose-based dynamic imine polymer (CDIP) is an emerging renewable, rehealable, and degradable polymer, representing a new kind of plastic substitute. However, there is still a demand to improve the mechanical properties of the existing CDIP. Bamboo fiber (BF) is an ideal reinforcer for polymers because it is lightweight, strong, and biodegradable. Herein, CDIP was prepared by dynamic imine cross-linking of dialdehyde cellulose (DAC) using a long-chain biobased diamine based on a Schiff-base reaction. The CDIP was then reinforced by BF to prepare a BF/CDIP composite film. This resulting BF/CDIP exhibited a tensile strength of 10 MPa, a Young’s modulus of 278.7 MPa, and a toughness of 74.6 MJ·m –3, which were 2.7, 4.7, and 2.4 times, respectively, those of pure CDIP. The BF/CDIP showed good rehealable capability in microstructures and mechanical properties because of the dynamic exchange character of imine bonds. The BF/CDIP also owned excellently chemical degradability due to the reversibility of imine bonds. Such BF/CDIP holds great potential to be used as an environmentally friendly plastic substitute.