Mesoporous xerogel cellulose composites from biorenewable natural cotton fibers. (15th April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Aiello, Ashlee; Cosby, Tyler; McFarland, Julia; Durkin, David P.; Trulove, Paul C.
• Is Part Of: Carbohydrate polymers. Volume 282(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-04-15
• Subjects: Xerogel -- Mesoporous -- Cellulose -- Biopolymer -- Composite -- Ionic Liquid; EMImAc 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate -- IL ionic liquid; Polysaccharides -- Periodicals; Polysaccharides -- Periodicals; Polysaccharides -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 547.78
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.119040
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0144-8617

Abstract

Abstract: All-cellulose xerogel composites were fabricated using a facile, scalable three-step process—(1) partial ionic liquid dissolution, (2) non-solvent rinsing, and (3) drying. The xerogel composites are composed of two phases where the yarn center is non-porous highly crystalline cellulose I surrounded by mesoporous amorphous regenerated cellulose. The composite had high 149 m 2 g −1 Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area with 11.7 nm average pore diameter. The porosity was calculated using density-based ( ϕ ρ = 0.49) and volume-based ( ϕ V = 0.52) methods. The porosity evolution mechanism is attributed to non-solvent-induced polarity shifts, and these results are compared with non-porous morphologies produced by varying the choice in non-solvents. Although similar decrystallization behavior was measured for all samples, non-porous yarns had a smaller diameter and significantly reduced BET surface area (0.03 m 2 g −1 ). The presented fabrication method offers controllable mesoporous phase formation along with freestanding structural capability towards the development of advanced functional cellulosic materials. Graphical abstract: Unlabelled Image