Abstract
With a growing need for sustainable resources research has become highly interested in investigating the structure and physical properties of biomaterials composed of natural macromolecules. In this study, we assessed the structural, morphological, and thermal properties of blended, regenerated films comprised of cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose (xylan) using the ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AMIMCl). Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray scattering, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to qualitatively and quantitatively measure bonding interactions, morphology, and thermal stability of the regenerated films. The results demonstrated that the regenerated films’ structural, morphological, and thermal character changed as a function of lignin-xylan concentration. The decomposition temperature rose according to an increase in lignin content and the surface topography of the regenerated films changed from fibrous to spherical patterns. This suggests that lignin-xylan concentration alters the self-assembly of lignin and the cellulose microfibril development. X-ray scattering confirms the extent of the morphological and molecular changes. Our data reveals that the inter- and intra-molecular interactions with the cellulose crystalline domains, along with the amount of disorder in the system, control the microfibril dimensional characteristics, lignin self-assembly, and possibly the overall material′s structural and thermal properties.
Highlights
With growing environmental and economic concerns, current scientific research is looking towards renewable raw materials for manufacturing and technology [1,2,3]
We assessed the properties of blended, regenerated films comprised of varying lignocellulose component concentrations using the ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AMIMCl)
As the lignin content increases while reducing the xylan content, the microfibril diameter decreases and lignin self-assembled into spherical domains
Summary
With growing environmental and economic concerns, current scientific research is looking towards renewable raw materials for manufacturing and technology [1,2,3]. The most heavily explored component of lignocellulose, has been used in areas such as biomedical research, fuel production, and 3D printing [6,9,10,11,12]. This linear polysaccharide represents the main component of plant cell walls and contains both crystalline and amorphous regions. It is one of the most abundant materials in the world, found in nature as cellulose I (Iα or Iβ) [13]. The combination of aromaticity and electron-donating groups serve to increase hydrophobicity of the secondary cell wall resulting in enhancements of material physical properties [16]
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