Efficient preparation of all cellulose composite films using a plasticizing-rolling method

•An efficient plasticizing-rolling method was developed to manufacture cellulose.•The prepared films are composed of cellulose I and cellulose II crystal structure.•ACC films have high transparency, tensile strength and thermal stability.•The relationship of structure and properties of ACC was discussed.•A particle–matrix model was proposed for high transparency of ACC films. Efficient manufacturing cellulose is a promising solution to solve severe environmental problems resulted from non-degradable plastics. Herein, we propose a plasticizing-rolling technique to manufacture cellulose featuring high cellulose ratios (50 wt%) and low temperature (65 °C). Plasticization effect from plasticizers (BmimCl and LiCl) uniformly plasticizes cellulose while shear effect from rolling destroys the crystal area of cellulose, both increasing the mobility of cellulosic molecular chains. SEM images and XRD analysis reveal prepared films are all cellulose composite (ACC), cellulose I in the core area and cellulose II in the surface area. ACC films have high transparency (81 %), tensile strength (73.6 ± 4.8 MPa), and thermal stability. The relationship of structure and properties of ACC films was also discussed and a particle–matrix composite model was proposed to analyze high transparency of ACC films. In conclusion, the proposed method presents a potential to efficiently produce high-performance cellulose materials at large scale.