Biomass-based adhesives prepared with cellulose and branched polyamines

The development of green, sustainable, biomass-based adhesives as alternatives to petroleum-based adhesives has emerged as a critical strategy in addressing environmental pollution and resource depletion. Cellulose represents an abundant and sustainable biomass material. However, the high density of hydroxyl groups along the cellulose molecular chains results in strong hydrophilicity, which limits its application in the adhesive sector. Crafting high water-resistance adhesives from cellulose is a task that is both promising and challenging. In this study, cellulose was modified to generate tosyl cellulose (TC), which was subsequently crosslinked with polyamines of varying degrees of branching. The effects of polyamine branching and the mass ratio of polyamine to tosyl cellulose on the performance of the TC-PA adhesive were investigated. The structure of the TC-PA adhesive was characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated successful synthesis of the TC-PA adhesive, with the reaction between TC and polyamines leading to the formation of macromolecules. The introduction of TC significantly lowered the curing temperature of the polyamines. Consequently, this novel cellulose-based adhesive demonstrates excellent water resistance and potential for broad applications.