Abstract
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) have been widely used as responsive materials, chiral templates, and tough nano-composites due to its unparalleled properties. Acid and enzyme hydrolyses are extensively employed to prepare CNC. These traditional approaches exhibit inherent limitations of corrosion hazards, time-consuming process, and/or low yield. Herein, irradiation oxidation and organosolv solubilization are conducted to cause rapid degradation with simultaneous crystallization of cellulose to achieve approx. 87% yield of CNC. The morphology, spectroscopic, and stability properties of the as-prepared CNC are characterized through UV-vis spectroscopy, zetal potential, XRD, TEM, DLS, GPC, FT-IR and TGA techniques. The resultant CNC suspension presents unique property with high stability after 9 months storage at 4 °C. Moreover, CNC liquid crystal phase is successfully generated by addition of anions or cations solution to the CNC aqueous dispersion without stirring. The innovative approach in this work opens an avenue to obtain CNC directly from lignocellulosic biomass through irradiation oxidation and organosolv solubilization without acid hydrolysis and washing procedure.
Highlights
Cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose are the three principal structural components of lignocellulosic biomass
In comparison with the cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) isolation strategies in the literatures, the merits in our work are: (1) CNC isolation directly from lignocellulosic biomass not from pulp and filter; (2) High yeild (~87%) of CNC obtained without acid hydrolysis and time-consumption washing; (3) High stability of the resultant CNC with no precipitates after 9 months storage; (4) Liquid crystals phases formation with low CNC concentration of 0.5 wt% by adding cation solution
This study reports a novel strategy of organosolv solubilization to achieve CNC with the yield of approx. 87% through rapid degradation with simultaneous crystallization of cellulose
Summary
Lignin and hemicellulose are the three principal structural components of lignocellulosic biomass. In 2017, Yarbrough and co-workers[4] published exploratory work wherein multifunctional cellulolytic enzymes were used to produce nanocellulose and coproduction of sugars from softwood bleached Kraft pulp The purposes of those studies were to hydrolyze carbohydrates to achieve high yields of soluble sugars for biofuels production; it was not a favorable outcome if cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were taken into consideration. In comparison with the CNC isolation strategies in the literatures, the merits in our work are: (1) CNC isolation directly from lignocellulosic biomass not from pulp and filter; (2) High yeild (~87%) of CNC obtained without acid hydrolysis and time-consumption washing; (3) High stability of the resultant CNC with no precipitates after 9 months storage; (4) Liquid crystals phases formation with low CNC concentration of 0.5 wt% by adding cation solution
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