Cellulose I and II nanocrystals produced by sulfuric acid hydrolysis of Tetra pak cellulose I

Lida Xing; Jin Gu; Weiwei Zhang; Dengyun Tu; Chuanshuang Hu

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.03.042

Cellulose I and II nanocrystals produced by sulfuric acid hydrolysis of Tetra pak cellulose I

Carbohydr Polym. 2018 Jul 15:192:184-192. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.03.042. Epub 2018 Mar 18.

Authors

Lida Xing¹, Jin Gu², Weiwei Zhang¹, Dengyun Tu¹, Chuanshuang Hu³

Affiliations

¹ College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, PR China.
² College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, PR China. Electronic address: gujin@scau.edu.cn.
³ College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, PR China. Electronic address: cshu@scau.edu.cn.

PMID: 29691011
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.03.042

Abstract

Polymorphism is an important factor associated with the cellulose nanomaterial properties. In this study, cellulose fibers (CFs) were efficiently isolated from waste Tetra pak packages, and cellulose I and II nanocrystals were produced by treatment of CFs with 64% sulfuric acid and controlling the reaction time from 15 to 30 min. Cellulose I (CI) was partially converted to cellulose II (CII) within 15 min and the resulting cellulose nanocrystal product (i.e. CNC15) contained 93.2% CII. Further extending the hydrolysis time decreased the CII content of CNC20 to 25.5% and CNC30 was completely CI without CII. CNC15 (285.1 ± 120.7 nm long, 50.6 ± 16.5 nm wide, 0.64 at% sulfur) was much thicker, slightly longer, less thermal stable and contained more sulfate groups than CNC30 (207.2 ± 77.8 nm long, 23.2 ± 7.8 nm wide, 0.34 at% sulfur). CNCs with controllable allomorph may have potentially diverse applications.

Keywords: Cellulose I and II; Cellulose nanocrystal; Sulfuric acid hydrolysis; Tetra pak; X-ray diffraction.