Abstract
More and more attention has been paid to environmentally friendly bio-based renewable materials as the substitution of fossil-based materials, due to the increasing environmental concerns. In this study, regenerated cellulose films with enhanced mechanical property were prepared via incorporating different plasticizers using ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl) as the solvent. The characteristics of the cellulose films were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermal analysis (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), 13C Solid-state cross-polarization/magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (CP/MAS NMR) and tensile testing. The results showed that the cellulose films exhibited a homogeneous and smooth surface structure. It was noted that the thermal stability of the regenerated cellulose film plasticized with glycerol was increased compared with other regenerated cellulose films. Furthermore, the incorporation of plasticizers dramatically strengthened the tensile strength and improved the hydrophobicity of cellulose films, as compared to the control sample. Therefore, these notable results exhibited the potential utilization in producing environmentally friendly cellulose films with high performance properties.
Highlights
Natural biopolymers from renewable resources have attracted much interest as alternatives for petroleum-based polymers, due to the increasing environmental concerns and decreasing fossil resources [1]
The morphology of cellulose films was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), and images are shown in Figures 1 and 2
It was shown from SEM views that all regenerated cellulose films exhibited smooth and homogeneous morphology with no sign of phase separation, which indicated the complete miscibility between cellulose and plasticizers
Summary
Natural biopolymers from renewable resources have attracted much interest as alternatives for petroleum-based polymers, due to the increasing environmental concerns and decreasing fossil resources [1]. The most abundant natural biopolymer on earth, is considered as one of the most promising polymeric resource It has many advantages, such as low cost, biocompatibility and biodegradability [2], which allow it to be used in furniture, clothing, packaging, paper and medical products in our daily life, and give the potential in numerous applications as bio-based materials, such as fibers, films, food casings and membranes [3,4,5]. We attempted to improve the mechanical properties and hydrophobicity of regenerated cellulose films by incorporating of plasticizers of sorbitol, glycerol and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl), was used to prepare plasticizers/cellulose blend films, due to its powerful dissolubility for cellulose and relatively lower price. The structure and properties of regenerated cellulose films were investigated to evaluate the desirability of their applications in the packaging and functional materials fields
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