Abstract
Softwood sulfite bleached cellulose pulp was oxidized with Oxone® and cellulose nanofibers (CNF) were produced after mechanical treatment with a high-shear homogenizer. UV-vis transmittance of dispersions of oxidized cellulose with different degrees of mechanical treatment was recorded. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of samples prepared from the translucent dispersions showed individualized cellulose nanofibers with a width of about 10 nm and lengths of a few hundred nm. All results demonstrated that more translucent CNF dispersions could be obtained after the pretreatment of cellulose pulp by Oxone® oxidation compared with the samples produced without pretreatment. The intrinsic viscosity of the cellulose decreased after oxidation and was further reduced after mechanical treatment. Almost translucent cellulose films were prepared from the dispersions of individualized cellulose nanofibers. The procedure described herein constitutes a green, novel, and efficient route to access CNF.
Highlights
Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) which possess properties such as high aspect ratio (L/d), large specific surface area, biodegradability, low coefficient of thermal expansion [1], great mechanical properties [2], and high gas barrier properties [3] are nano-sized fibers less than 100 nm wide produced from cellulose [4]
The carboxylic acid content for both pulp oxidized by Oxone® alone and by
In order to investigate the effect of NaBr on the oxidation, NaBr was employed with Oxone® oxidation at room temperature
Summary
Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) which possess properties such as high aspect ratio (L/d), large specific surface area, biodegradability, low coefficient of thermal expansion [1], great mechanical properties [2], and high gas barrier properties [3] are nano-sized fibers less than 100 nm wide produced from cellulose [4]. In the case of chemical pretreatment, 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation and carboxymethylation have been frequently employed Both of these pretreatment methods rely on introducing surface charges in the form of carboxyl groups on the cellulose fibers, which facilitates the fibrillation of the cellulose due to repulsive forces [3,19,20,21]. With higher carboxylic acid content was more fibrillated than untreated pulp with a lower carboxylic acid content
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