Open Access

REVIEW

Recent Advances in Nanocellulose-Based Aerogels: Fabrication, Functionalization and Applications

Lin Jia, Qiang He^*

College of Mechanical Engineering, Jiamusi University, Jiamusi, China

* Corresponding Author: Qiang He. Email:

Journal of Polymer Materials 2026, 43(1), 2 https://doi.org/10.32604/jpm.2026.077807

Received 17 December 2025; Accepted 09 March 2026; Issue published 03 April 2026

Abstract

Aerogels, renowned as ultra-lightweight solids with exceptional porosity and specific surface area, have emerged as pivotal materials for thermal insulation, catalysis, energy storage, and biomedicine. This review comprehensively evaluates the recent strides in sustainable, high-performance cellulose-based aerogels, emphasizing their fabrication, functionalization, and application prospects. It details the extraction of cellulose from diverse sources and its subsequent processing into nanocellulose (e.g., cellulose nanofibrils and nanocrystals), which serves as the fundamental building block for aerogel synthesis. The critical sol-gel transition, solvent selection, and the pivotal role of drying techniques—freeze-drying, supercritical drying, and ambient pressure drying—in determining final aerogel architecture and properties are systematically analyzed. Special emphasis is placed on the advanced chemical modification of nanocellulose, including esterification, click chemistry, etherification, silanization, and amidation, which tailors surface chemistry to impart hydrophobicity, reactivity, or specific binding sites. The profound influence of cellulose source characteristics (aspect ratio, crystallinity, surface charge) on the pore-forming mechanism and aerogel performance is thoroughly discussed, bridging raw material selection with microstructure design. The review further elucidates the engineering of hybrid and composite aerogels by integrating silica, graphene, polymers, semiconductors, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which synergistically enhance functionalities for targeted applications such as adsorption, photocatalysis, energy storage, sensing, and biomedical engineering. Despite significant progress, challenges remain in scalable green fabrication, balancing ultra-high porosity with mechanical robustness, and deepening the mechanistic understanding in complex applications. This work consolidates the current state-of-the-art, identifies key knowledge gaps, and provides a forward-looking perspective on the development of cellulose aerogels as versatile platforms for next-generation sustainable technologies.

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Keywords

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