Synergic effect of tungstophosphoric acid and sonication for rapid synthesis of crystalline nanocellulose

Sharifah Bee Abd Hamid; Siti Khadijah Zain; Rasel Das; Gabriele Centi

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2015.10.023

Synergic effect of tungstophosphoric acid and sonication for rapid synthesis of crystalline nanocellulose

Carbohydr Polym. 2016 Mar 15:138:349-55. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2015.10.023. Epub 2015 Oct 22.

Authors

Sharifah Bee Abd Hamid¹, Siti Khadijah Zain², Rasel Das², Gabriele Centi³

Affiliations

¹ Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: sharifahbee@um.edu.my.
² Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ Department of DIECII, Sect. Industrial Chemistry, University of Messina, ERIC Aisbl and INSTM/CASPE, 98166 Messina, Italy.

PMID: 26794771
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2015.10.023

Abstract

The utilization of sonication in combination with tungstophosphoric acid (PWA) catalyst reduces dramatically the time of operations from 30h to 10min by using an optimum sonication power of 225W. The basic cellulosic structure is maintained, allowing preparing high-quality nanocellulose. The size of the nanocellulose obtained was in the range from 15 to 35nm in diameter and several hundred nanometers in length, with a high crystallinity of about 88%. The nanocellulose shows a surface charge of -38.2mV which allows to obtaina stable colloidal suspension. The surface tension of the stable, swollen aqueous nanocellulose was close to that of water. These characteristics, together with the fast procedure allowed from the synergic combination of PWA and sonication, evidence the high potential of the proposed method for the industrial production of nanocellulose having the properties required in many applications.

Keywords: Microcrystalline cellulose; Nanocellulose; Sonication; Tungstophosphoric acid.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't