Abstract
A method was developed for the high-yield preparation of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) using glycerol and a small quantity of sulfuric acid with a colloid milling mechanical dispersion. The glycerol together with a small quantity of sulfuric acid was employed to break hydrogen bonds between cellulose fibrils, after which the excessively swelled cellulose bundles could be easily disassembled to nanosize by a simple mechanical treatment. Reaction conditions, including the amount of sulfuric acid, the temperature and the preferred acid treatment time, were optimized to be 0.64% w/w sulfuric acid (based on the whole reaction system), 100 °C and 2 h respectively. Under the optimized conditions, CNFs with a width less than 100 nm and a length of several microns were obtained from various raw materials with high yield (above 85%), high crystallinity and an average degrees of polymerization (DPv) of 200.
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We are grateful for financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31870565) as well as project funding from the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20181397).
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Lu, Y., Yu, J., Ma, J. et al. High-yield preparation of cellulose nanofiber by small quantity acid assisted milling in glycerol. Cellulose 26, 3735–3745 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02335-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02335-x