2025 Poster Session

Pursuing environmental sustainability has been a continuous consensus in the museum sector since the 21st century. In line with this, our museum has sought to apply bio-based materials developed by academia in conservation work. In this case, the collaborating unit is the College of Agriculture at National Chiayi University in Taiwan, which has utilized the TEMPO method to produce cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) from pineapple leaves and bamboo stems. These plants, commonly used in East Asian papermaking, offer high compatibility with paper and are characterized by their rapid growth, wide distribution, and low cost in Taiwan's subtropical climate. If developed under conditions that prevent raw material depletion and reduce the carbon footprint, they could have significant potential for growth. This study evaluates the effectiveness of these CNFs in reinforcing paper structures during university students' internships at the museum and assesses their stability for conservation purposes.

To standardize the testing process, this study used an airbrush to evenly apply a 1% CNF solution onto filter paper and deteriorated paper, followed by a two-phase testing procedure. The first phase involved testing different numbers of spray applications (1-3 times) to assess the impact of the number of applications on paper properties. In the second phase, the most effective number of spray applications from the first phase (3 times) was used to compare the reinforcement effects of the in-house CNFs with a commercially available product, evaluating their competitiveness and potential for substitution. The completed spray samples underwent analysis of physical, chemical, optical, and structural properties, including color difference, whiteness, glossiness, pH, folding endurance, tensile strength, basis weight, contact angle, FTIR, and SEM. Additionally, the durability of the in-house CNFs was evaluated after aging.

The current test results indicate that the in-house CNFs effectively penetrate the paper structure and strengthen its physical properties. The optical properties show minimal changes in paper color, which aligns with the needs of paper conservation. However, compared to a commercially available, well-developed CNF product, there is still room for improvement. A 1% concentration of in-house CNFs achieves effects similar to those of a commercially available product with just a 0.06% concentration due to differences in refinement and manufacturing methods.

Throughout the research process, we observed the feasibility of academia-industry-government collaboration. With industry cooperation, the university could obtain agricultural waste (pineapple leaves) and bamboo from local farmers near the campus at no cost. In the educational process, students from the College of Agriculture were able to engage directly with the plants through harvesting, gaining a closer understanding of plant characteristics and exploring applications for CNF development in their coursework. The museum's involvement has created practical demand, allowing the teaching materials and products from the course to be put into practice and refined. Looking forward, we hope that further testing and improvement by both the university and the museum—key aspects of our research—will enable these potentially valuable waste resources to be effectively reused under environmentally friendly conditions to develop higher-value applications while encouraging future collaboration and development in the field.