Developing sustainable, low viscous and efficient solvents are always advantageous to the processing/fabricating of cellulose materials in practical applications. To this end, in this work novel solvents were developed; ([Amim][CH₃COO]/PEG) by dissolving polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG-200) in 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Amim][CH₃COO]). The solubilities of cellulose in [Amim][CH₃COO]/PEG solvents were determined as a function of temperature, and the possible dissolution mechanism of cellulose in [Amim][CH₃COO]/PEG solvent was investigated. The novel solvent exhibits outstanding advantages for good dissolution capacity of cellulose, such as low viscosity, negligible vapor pressure, and recycling capability. The [CH₃COO]- anion and the [Amim]⁺ cation of [Amim][CH₃COO] in [Amim][CH₃COO]/PEG-10 are the driving force for cellulose dissolution verified by the 13C NMR spectra. In addition, the regenerated cellulose films from [Amim][CH₃COO]/PEG solvent were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to estimate their morphologies and structures.
Keywords: [Amim][CH3COO]/PEG solvent; cellulose; dissolution mechanism; regenerated cellulose properties; sustainability.