Microstructural, thermal, crystallization and water absorption properties of films prepared from never-dried and freeze-dried cellulose nanocrystals

Zakir Hossain, Vincenzo Calabrese, Marcelo da Silva, Julien Schmitt, Saffron Bryant, Md Towhidul Islam, Reda M. Felfel, Janet L Scott, Karen Edler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

In this paper, we report the microstructural, optical, thermal, crystallization and water absorption properties of films prepared from never-dried (ND) and freeze-dried (FD) cellulose nanocrystals. Morphology of the acid hydrolyzed ND CNCs revealed a needle-like structure, while after freeze-drying, they showed a flake-like morphology. Microstructural analysis of ND CNCs and FD CNCs were further studied via SAXS to probe morphology and interactions. ND CNCs yielded a transparent film with a low surface roughness (14±4 nm), while the FD CNC film evidenced a significant reduction of their transparency due to their higher surface roughness (134±20 nm). Although FTIR and EDX analyses revealed no chemical change occurred during the freeze-drying process, yet a more intense thermal degradation profile was observed for FD CNC film, probably due to the higher oxygen ingress within the gaps created in between the stacked flakes. This, in turn, resulted in a greater loss of crystallinity at a higher temperature (300oC) compared to the ND CNC film. In addition, a rapid decrease in water contact angle of the FD CNC film proved that the microstructural morphology of FD flakes and their orientation within the film had a strong influence in increasing water absorption capacity compared to the ND CNC film.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2000462
JournalMacromolecular Materials and Engineering
Volume306
Issue number1
Early online date23 Nov 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jan 2021

Funding

The authors would like to thank EPSRC for funding this project (Grant EP/N033310/1). V.C. thanks the University of Bath for supporting his Ph.D. studies. Prof. Nick Terril, Dr. Andy Smith, and Dr. Tim Snow are thanked for their assistance with SAXS experiment (Experiment no. SM20409-1) at I22 beamline, Diamond Light Source, Didcot, UK. This work benefited from the use of the SasView software (developed under NSF Award DMR-0520547) containing code developed under the EU Horizon 2020 programme (the SINE2020 project Grant 654000). Data supporting this work is freely accessible in the Bath research data archive system at https://doi.org/10.15125/BATH-00930. The authors would like to thank EPSRC for funding this project (Grant EP/N033310/1). V.C. thanks the University of Bath for supporting his Ph.D. studies. Prof. Nick Terril, Dr. Andy Smith, and Dr. Tim Snow are thanked for their assistance with SAXS experiment (Experiment no. SM20409‐1) at I22 beamline, Diamond Light Source, Didcot, UK. This work benefited from the use of the SasView software (developed under NSF Award DMR‐0520547) containing code developed under the EU Horizon 2020 programme (the SINE2020 project Grant 654000). Data supporting this work is freely accessible in the Bath research data archive system at https://doi.org/10.15125/BATH‐00930.

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