Morphology and properties of durian cellulose nanofibres reinforced polyvinyl alcohol/starch based composite

Abstract

In this study, durian cellulose nanofibers were prepared by extracting it using acid hydrolysis. Prior to the extraction of the cellulose nanofibers, durian fibers undergo series of chemical treatment such as alkaline and bleaching treatments. These treatments removed waxes, hemicelluloses and lignin which cover the surface of durian fibers. After that, the treated durian fibers was undergo acid hydrolysis treatment by using 64 % H2SO4 at 40 °C for 30 minutes in order to extract cellulose nanofibers from normal fibers. The composite films were prepared by mixing durian cellulose nanofibers with the mixture of starch, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and glycerol at certain composition via solvent casting and evaporation method. The morphology, chemical and physical properties of extracted durian cellulose nanofibers and composite films were investigated using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR), Zetasizer Nano Zs (Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS)) and moisture uptake test. In this study, SEM and FTIR results verified that 10 % cellulose nanofibers show the optimum distribution and interaction within the composite. Apart from that, acid hydrolysis was proofed to produce nanofibers with the dimension of 190 nm to 255 nm in size and the width of 22.96 nm. Additionally, from the moisture uptake test, 10 % cellulose nanofibers showed the highest moisture resistance characteristics