Water-resistant and high oxygen-barrier nanocellulose films with interfibrillar cross-linkages formed through multivalent metal ions

•Nanocellulose films with Fe3+ and Al3+ ions had high wet tensile strengths.•Nanocellulose films with Fe3+ and Al3+ ions had high wet moduli of ~3 GPa.•Nanocellulose films with Ca2+ ions had very low oxygen permeability even at 80% RH.•Thus, water-resistant nanocellulose films can be prepared by counterion exchange.

Once-dried 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)-oxidized cellulose nanofibril (TOCN) films with sodium carboxylate groups (TOCN–COONa) were soaked in aqueous MgCl2, CaCl2, AlCl3 and FeCl3 solutions to change the counterion to TOCNs–COOM films (M: metal ion). Dry TOCN–COOM films had high Young's moduli (11–20 GPa) and tensile strength (170–280 MPa). In particular, the wet TOCN films with aluminum and iron (III) carboxylates had high Young's moduli and tensile strengths of ~3 GPa and 30–40 MPa, respectively, even at water contents of ~470%. Moreover, the dry TOCN films with calcium and aluminum carboxylates had extremely low oxygen permeabilities of 0.08 and 0.15 mL µm m−2 day−1 kPa−1, respectively, even at 80% relative humidity, which are outstanding values compared to those of other films reported previously. These results are explained in terms of the high water resistance of the films, which is caused by the formation of interfibrillar cross-linkages through multivalent metal ions.

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