Abstract
Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) isolated from plant biomass have attracted considerable interests in polymer engineering. The limitations associated with CNF-based nanocomposites are often linked to the time-consuming preparation methods and lack of desired surface functionalities. Herein, we demonstrate the feasibility of preparing a multifunctional CNF-zinc oxide (CNF-ZnO) nanocomposite with dual antibacterial and reinforcing properties via a facile and efficient ultrasound route. We characterized and examined the antibacterial and mechanical reinforcement performances of our ultrasonically induced nanocomposite. Based on our electron microscopy analyses, the ZnO deposited onto the nanofibrous network had a flake-like morphology with particle sizes ranging between 21 to 34 nm. pH levels between 8–10 led to the formation of ultrafine ZnO particles with a uniform size distribution. The resultant CNF-ZnO composite showed improved thermal stability compared to pure CNF. The composite showed potent inhibitory activities against Gram-positive (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)) and Gram-negative Salmonella typhi (S. typhi) bacteria. A CNF-ZnO-reinforced natural rubber (NR/CNF-ZnO) composite film, which was produced via latex mixing and casting methods, exhibited up to 42% improvement in tensile strength compared with the neat NR. The findings of this study suggest that ultrasonically-synthesized palm CNF-ZnO nanocomposites could find potential applications in the biomedical field and in the development of high strength rubber composites.
Highlights
Cellulose has a firm grip as an inexhaustible organic material that could feed the growing demand for green reinforcement nanofillers in various nanocomposite materials
We demonstrated the feasibility of preparing stable and uniform palmbased Cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposites via a facile ultrasound route
The formation of nanocrystalline ZnO particles on the CNF matrix was confirmed by Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-electron scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and TEM analysis
Summary
Cellulose has a firm grip as an inexhaustible organic material that could feed the growing demand for green reinforcement nanofillers in various nanocomposite materials. The agglomeration of ZnO is a limitation during the synthesis of cellulose nanofiberzinc oxide (CNF-ZnO) nanocomposites due to its high surface area, and this could cause dispersion issues of the metallic particles in the CNF network [13]. The ZnO NPs were observed to be well dispersed in the CNF network when the synthesized environment changed to pH 8 (Figure S1C) and pH 10 (Figure S1B). The XRD pattern of CNF-ZnO shown in Figure 3B was further evidence of ZnO NP embedment on the OPEFB-isolated CNF This provides the characteristics of ZnO NP XRD diffraction patterns with diffraction peaks at 2θ with the values, 37.1◦, 34.4◦, 36.2◦, 47.5◦, 56.6◦, 62.8◦, 67.7◦, and 69.1◦ corresponding to (100), (002), (101), (102), (110), (103), (112), and (201), respectively. The results obtained match with other types of ZnO NP-loaded nanocomposites, such as ZnO-cellulose cotton linter pulp [34] and ZnO-cellulose cotton fabric [21]
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