What is Nanopaper?
Nanopaper is a cutting edge variety of paper with a strength of 214 megapascals (MPa), greater than 130 MPa of cast iron and approaching that of structural steel (250 MPa). Typical paper has a strength of 1 MPa. The nanopaper, developed by scientists at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden and announced via press releases in early June 2008, gets its strength from trillions of tiny linked cellulose nanofibers. The cellulose fibers in nanopaper were produced by making a sludge of cellulose, similar to the way normal paper is made, but then further breaking it down using enzymes, mechanical grinding, and chemical treatment with carboxymethanol. The result are fibers 1000 times smaller than the fibers in typical paper. These fibers link together in a defect-free matrix, in contrast to the fibers in traditional paper, which are so large you can see them with a magnifying glass. This nanopaper beat the prior record of 103 MPa for a high-strength paper. The first strength t
