Synthesis, characterization and enzymatic surface roughing of cellulose/xylan composite films

Lingfeng Long; Fei Shen; Fei Wang; Dong Tian; Jinguang Hu

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.02.086

Synthesis, characterization and enzymatic surface roughing of cellulose/xylan composite films

Carbohydr Polym. 2019 Jun 1:213:121-127. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.02.086. Epub 2019 Feb 26.

Authors

Lingfeng Long¹, Fei Shen², Fei Wang³, Dong Tian⁴, Jinguang Hu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Lab for the Chemistry and Utilization of Agro-forest Biomass, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, PR China.
² Institute of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 611130, PR China.
³ Jiangsu Key Lab for the Chemistry and Utilization of Agro-forest Biomass, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, PR China. Electronic address: hgwf@njfu.edu.cn.
⁴ Institute of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 611130, PR China. Electronic address: dongtian@sicau.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada.

PMID: 30879651
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.02.086

Abstract

Upgrading renewable cellulose biopolymer to various high-value material/chemical is of great importance in building a sustainable bio-economy. This work assessed the technical feasibility of fabricating transparent cellulose/xylan composite films using facile solution-casting method. More importantly, this work also initially assessed the technical potential of xylanase treatment to selectively modify the surface of the obtained composite films with the goal of extending their applications. When bleached Kraft xylan addition was lower than 20 wt%, the composite films could still retain their original mechanical and structural advantages. Xylanase treatment specifically removed 26.0% and 32.3% xylan of the composite films with an enzyme loading of 2 and 5 mg g^-1 cellulose, respectively. It was shown that xylan component was heterogeneously located in the surface of the composite films during film-casting process, which allowed the subsequent surface etching/roughing at nanoscale using facile xylanase treatment without compromising their structural advantages.

Keywords: Cellulose; Enzymatic treatment; Surface modification; Xylanase.

MeSH terms

Biopolymers / biosynthesis*
Biopolymers / chemistry
Cellulose / biosynthesis*
Cellulose / chemistry
Endo-1,4-beta Xylanases / metabolism*
Particle Size
Surface Properties
Xylans / biosynthesis*
Xylans / chemistry

Substances

Biopolymers
Xylans
Cellulose
Endo-1,4-beta Xylanases