A bionic strong nanostructured soy protein-based adhesive enabled antistatic and self-extinguishing wood-based composites

Wood composites represent one kind of sustainable functional materials for interior decoration and packaging, but their tendency to generate static electricity poses discomfort and potential fire hazards. To address this huge challenge, we herein report a strong, conductive, nanostructured formaldehyde-free soy protein-based adhesive by mixing nanocellulose and tannic acid functionalized MXene, and soy protein, which is then used to create antistatic and fire-extinguishing wood composites. The resulted soy protein-based adhesive exhibited an exceptional bonding capability due to its bionic organic-inorganic hybridized crosslinking structure. With this soy protein-based adhesive, as-prepared wood composites achieved a static flexural strength of 14.08 MPa, meeting the demanding interior use requirement. Because of the presence of both MXene and quaternary ammonium salt in the adhesive, the resultant wood composite shows an electrical resistance of 3.123 × 109 Ω·cm, satisfying the antistatic requirements for wood-based composites, and a desired self-extinguishing ability. This work offers a promising strategy to create strong nanostructured bio-adhesive, which can be used for producing multifunctional wood composites as decoration and packaging materials.