Production of new cellulose nanomaterial from red algae marine biomass Gelidium elegans

You Wei Chen; Hwei Voon Lee; Joon Ching Juan; Siew-Moi Phang

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.06.083

Production of new cellulose nanomaterial from red algae marine biomass Gelidium elegans

Carbohydr Polym. 2016 Oct 20:151:1210-1219. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.06.083. Epub 2016 Jun 20.

Authors

You Wei Chen¹, Hwei Voon Lee², Joon Ching Juan³, Siew-Moi Phang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), Institute of Postgraduate Studies, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
² Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), Institute of Postgraduate Studies, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: leehweivoon@um.edu.my.
³ Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), Institute of Postgraduate Studies, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; School of Science, Monash University, Sunway Campus, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 41650 Bandar Sunway, Malaysia. Electronic address: jcjuan@um.edu.my.
⁴ Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

PMID: 27474672
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.06.083

Abstract

Nanocellulose was successfully isolated from Gelidium elegans red algae marine biomass. The red algae fiber was treated in three stages namely alkalization, bleaching treatment and acid hydrolysis treatment. Morphological analysis was performed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM results revealed that the isolated nanocellulose had the average diameter and length of 21.8±11.1nm and of 547.3±23.7nm, respectively. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy proved that the non-cellulosic polysaccharides components were progressively removed during the chemically treatment, and the final derived materials composed of cellulose parent molecular structure. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study showed that the crystallinity of yielded product had been improved after each successive treatments subjected to the treated fiber. The prepared nano-dimensional cellulose demonstrated a network-like structure with higher crystallinity (73%) than that of untreated fiber (33%), and possessed of good thermal stability which is suitable for nanocomposite material.

Keywords: Fiber; Nanocellulose; Polysaccharides; Pulp; Red algae.

MeSH terms

Biomass*
Cellulose / biosynthesis*
Cellulose / chemistry*
Nanostructures / chemistry*
Rhodophyta / metabolism*

Substances

Cellulose