Open Access
ARTICLE
Preparation of Cellulose Nanofibrils by Multi-Site Regioselective Oxidation
Liying Song1, Xixiang Pei2, Rui Li1, Haitao Chen1,*, Xiaozheng Sun1,*
1 College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China
2 Harbin Botai Biological Technology Co., Ltd., Harbin, 150030, China
* Corresponding Authors: Haitao Chen. Email: ; Xiaozheng Sun. Email:
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Nanocellulose and Nanocellulose-Derived Functional Materials)
Journal of Renewable Materials 2020, 8(10), 1269-1282. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.010923
Received 07 April 2020; Accepted 10 June 2020; Issue published 31 August 2020
Abstract
Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) are promising sustainable materials that
can be applied to nanocomposites, as well as medical and life-sciences devices.
However, methods for the preparation of these important materials are energy
intensive because heating and mechanical disintegration are required to produce
cellulose fibers below 100 nm in size. In this study, CNFs were prepared through
the multi-site regioselective oxidation of cellulose with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) and periodate at room temperature (20–25°C), without
any mechanical-disintegration treatment. Transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) revealed that the CNFs had the average widths of 14.1, 55.4, and 81.9
nm for three different treatments. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy
revealed that carboxyl groups were created on the surfaces of the microfibrils,
while X-ray diffraction studies showed that the cellulose I structure was maintained after oxidation, and that the cellulose nanofibril crystallinity index
exceeded 70%. These results demonstrate that CNFs can be prepared by multi-site
regioselective oxidation at room temperature in the absence of mechanical disintegration. In addition, a model was developed to calculate the total content of carboxylate and aldehyde groups of CNFs prepared by the TEMPO mediate
oxidation, the periodate oxidation, and the multi-site regioselective oxidation
methods based on the particle width determined by TEM. The calculated values
of the model were in good agreement with the total content (experimental value)
of carboxylate and aldehyde groups of CNFs prepared by the TEMPO-mediated
oxidation and the multi-site regioselective oxidation methods. However, the model was not valid for CNFs prepared by the periodate oxidation method.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Song, L., Pei, X., Li, R., Chen, H., Sun, X. (2020). Preparation of Cellulose Nanofibrils by Multi-Site Regioselective Oxidation.
Journal of Renewable Materials, 8(10), 1269–1282. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.010923