High aspect ratio cellulose nanofibrils from macroalgae Laminaria hyperborea cellulose extract via a zero-waste low energy process

• Published in: Cellulose (London) Vol. 27; no. 14; pp. 7997 - 8010
• Main Authors: Onyianta, Amaka J., O’Rourke, Dominic, Sun, Dongyang, Popescu, Carmen-Mihaela, Dorris, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bioorganic Chemistry; Cellulose; Cellulose fibers; Ceramics; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Energy consumption; Fibrillation; Fourier transforms; Glass; High aspect ratio; Infrared spectrophotometers; Material properties; Morphology; Nanomaterials; Natural Materials; Organic Chemistry; Original Research; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Sciences; Seaweeds; Spectrophotometry; Stability analysis; Sustainable Development; Thermal stability; Viscoelasticity; Algae cellulose; CNF viscoelastic properties; CNF morphological properties; CNF aspect ratios; Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs); CNF water retention values
• ISSN: 0969-0239; 1572-882X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10570-020-03223-5

Homogeneous high aspect ratio cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) were prepared from Laminaria hyperborea (LH) seaweed cellulose without any initial mechanical, biological or chemical pre-treatments. Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometry revealed that LH cellulose was of the cellulose I α allomorph, typical of algal cellulose. Compared with wood derived CNF, significant enhancements in crystallinity, viscoelastic properties, water retention values (WRV) and morphological characteristics were identified with a single pass at 1 wt. % cellulose content through a high-pressure homogeniser. Further mechanical fibrillation did not lead to appreciable improvements in material properties that would justify the added energy consumption, which at a single pass is at least a factor of 10 lower than with wood cellulose processing. Good quality CNFs with little compromise in material properties were also obtainable at 2–3 wt. % cellulose contents as identified from viscoelastic analysis, WRV and morphological analysis. LHCNFs also showed good thermal stability, which in summary presents a multifunctional high value cellulose nanomaterial that can find application in various fields. Graphic abstract