Electron beam irradiation-induced co-grafting and degradation of cotton cellulose with ionic liquid

Abstract

We developed a cellulose upgrading method based on electron beam processing technology by using a carbon-carbon double bond-containing ionic liquid as an auxiliary reagent. The irradiation of cellulose was implemented by a 10 MeV high-energy electron accelerator or a 200 keV low-energy electron accelerator. The established method enabled grafting of the ionic liquid onto cellulose while triggering an irradiation degradation of cotton cellulose. By employing irradiation co-grafting degradation with a high-energy electron accelerator in the dose range of 30–40 kGy, highly uniform cotton cellulose with a high degree of polymerization (DP) of 500 and low degree of polymerization deviation (DPD) was obtained. By using a low-energy accelerator in the dose range of 4–6 kGy, cotton cellulose with a high DP of 1000 and low DPD was prepared. This method to upgrade cellulose has advantages of simple operation, short reaction time, and minimal amount of chemical reagents. It opened an avenue to access high quality of cellulose that cannot be attained with other method.