{
  "abstract": "Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) are promising reinforcing materials for biopolymer films, but their poor stability in water and alkaline environments limits their application in alkaline energy-conversion systems. In this study, CNC-based composite films (CNC/CP) were fabricated through a simple aqueous suspension-casting method using citric acid (CA) as a green cross-linker and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA, 10 wt%) as a secondary polymer. The cross-linking degree was controlled by varying the CA content from 10 to 30 wt% relative to CNC, followed by heat treatment to promote esterification. The combined effect of CA cross-linking and PVA incorporation greatly improved the film performance. The CNC/CP films showed excellent water stability, with low swelling values of ∼6.66% and 20% after 960 h at room temperature and 80 °C. Mechanical performance was also improved, with the optimized CNC/CP film showing a 109.9% increase in tensile strength and a 590.3% increase in toughness compared with the pristine CNC film. The hydroxide-ion conductivities of CNC/CP films reached up to 122.64 mS cm–1 at 25 °C and 157.99 mS cm–1 at 80 °C in 1 M KOH. Moreover, the CNC/CP films showed good alkaline stability, retaining hydroxide-ion conductivities of 29.32–48.25 mS cm–1 after soaking in 1 M KOH for 720 h. These results show that citric acid cross-linking combined with PVA incorporation is an effective strategy to produce stable, mechanically robust, and conductive CNC-based films for further alkaline energy-conversion applications.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) , , ,",
    "University of Science and Technology (UST) , , ,",
    "Korea University , , ,"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Sarah Keiza Ismail",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-3718-0284"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Ye-Jin Lee",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-2248-9890"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        0
      ],
      "name": "Nicholas Jonathan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Imam Hidayat Nurwahid",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6954-4485"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Joona Bang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2301-6190"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sang-Ok Kim",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5628-9331"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Chang Soo Kim",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1125-2831"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0k3qvrb5pr7fm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1021/acsomega.6c07538",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "0k3qvrb5pr7fm",
  "issns": [
    "2470-1343"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://pubs.acs.org/acsodf/article/doi/10.1021/acsomega.6c07538/5461950/Water-and-Alkali-Stable-Cellulose-Nanocrystal",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://pubs.acs.org/acsodf/article-pdf/doi/10.1021/acsomega.6c07538/69043480/acsomega.6c07538.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-01",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0k3qvrb5pr7fm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T00:21:17Z",
      "native_id": "10.1021/acsomega.6c07538",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://pubs.acs.org/acsodf/article/doi/10.1021/acsomega.6c07538/5461950/Water-and-Alkali-Stable-Cellulose-Nanocrystal"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "issn:2470-1343",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Water- and Alkali-Stable Cellulose Nanocrystal Films via Synergistic Citric Acid Cross-Linking and Poly(vinyl alcohol) Incorporation for Hydroxide-Conducting Membranes",
  "title_text": "Water- and Alkali-Stable Cellulose Nanocrystal Films via Synergistic Citric Acid Cross-Linking and Poly(vinyl alcohol) Incorporation for Hydroxide-Conducting Membranes",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T00:23:04Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0k3qvrb5pr7fm",
  "venue": "ACS Omega",
  "versions": []
}