Magnesium oxide biosynthesized with Camellia sinensis extract as activator in nitrile rubber vulcanization

Abstract

Green synthesis of metal and metal oxides is an emerging area in the field of technology and provides economic and environmental benefits as an alternative to physical and chemical processes. In this method, non-toxic reagents that are ecologically correct and safe are used. In this work, MgO was synthesized from the aqueous green tea (Camellia sinensis) extract and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy, which revealed the formation of MgO with face-centered cubic crystalline structure of crystallite size of 15.92 nm. Later, the green MgO obtained was used as activator in nitrile rubber compositions, replacing the industrially used ZnO as a vulcanization activator, and also compared to a commercial MgO. The evaluation was performed regarding the rheometric properties, the kinetic of vulcanization and crosslink density formation. The results obtained were promising both for the synthesis and application of MgO produced via the green route in elastomeric NBR compositions.