Evaluation of morphological architecture of cellulose chains in grass during conversion from macro to nano dimensions

Abstract

The cellulose nanowhiskers (CNW) are of imminent importance in the development of ecofriendly green material for environment. Morphological study of their structure was carried out after extraction from grass. The controlled alkali and acid hydrolysis after soxhlet extraction of bleached fiber in ethanol and water provided a mixture of micro/nano fiber which can be further converted into CNW by mechanical treatment. Width of obtained CNW were found to be similar to 10-65 nm with length of several nanometers as evidenced by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The changes in dimensions during alkali treatment, bleaching and acid hydrolysis of grass exhibited an interesting architecture and clarify the phenomenon of separation of nano level fibrils from the matrix of hemicellulose and lignin which starts after swelling of fibers and opening from middle followed by splitting from each other. The nanofibers were embedded in the matrix surrounded by amorphous layers. The size of fibers was directly associated with the extent of treatments. The crystalline part of fiber was intact during hydrolysis which must be attributed to easy removal of amorphous region by penetration of hydronum ions from acid. The results of SEM and TEM were correlated with the Scanning Ion Microscopy (SIM) which showed a direct evidence of breaking of thick fiber strands resulting in the formation of sharp edged crystalline entities composed of cellulose crystals.