Physical-chemical properties of nanocellulose synthesized from Miscanthus x Giganteus

Abstract

Nanocellulose was made in the form of water gel using chemical and ultrasound treatments of the Miscanthus x giganteus plant. Properties both of nanogel and of its thin solid films deposited on glass, silicon and microcrystalline cellulose substrates were studied. Nondestructive methods (XRD, viscosymetry, scanning electron and optical microscopy, reflection and luminescence spectroscopy) were used to characterize studied materials. The results obtained allowed estimation of nanofibrils sizes both in water solutions and in the solid states. It was found that the aspect ratio for the nanofibrils (p = l/d, where l is the length and d – diameter) in the nanogel state decreases from 130 to 20, when temperature increases from 15 to 75 °C. The value of p for nanofibrils in solid films is in the range of 3–30. It was assumed that mentioned data are the result of aggregation of the nanofibrils in the solid state and under water nanocellulose gel cooling. The data about optical properties of the nanocellulose under study showed that optical reflection and photoluminescence methods are suitable, in principle, for characterization of nanocellulose made from Miscanthus x giganteus in the form of nanogel, too.

Keywords:

• Nanocellulose
• Miscanthus x giganteus plant
• nanogel
• nanofibrils aggregation

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for financial support of this research as well as to Prof. Emmanuel Stratakis (Institute of Electronic Structure & Laser, FORTH, Heraklion, Crete, Greece) for his support of the study.