New insights into the accessibility of native cellulose to environmental contaminants toward tritium behavior prediction

Abstract

Tritium speciation and behavior in the environment directly rely on accessible OH groups of organic molecules and their hydrogen exchangeability properties. As one of the most widespread biomolecule, cellulose role in reducing the exchange capacity of the hydrogen atom has been previously highlighted experimentally in various environmental matrices. In this paper, a robust and reliable T/H gas-solid isotopic exchange procedure has been implemented to assess the OH group accessibility of native celluloses with an increasing degree of crystallinity. A linear relationship was found between hydroxyl reactivity and the crystallinity index (CrI) of native celluloses, as determined by the analysis of their crystalline structure from XRD characterization. The application of the obtained linear experimental model to cellulosic materials was then evaluated and an acceptable minimum value of 12% for the CrI parameter on environmental matrices could thus be established. The authors have therefore proposed an environmental matrices relevant and efficient analytical process in order to determine the accessibility of native cellulose hydroxyl groups to tritium in the environment from a single and quick sample characterization procedure.