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Performance of polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel reinforced with lignin-containing cellulose nanocrystals

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Abstract

Lignin-containing cellulose nanocrystals (LCNCs) were produced from old newspapers using the sulfuric acid hydrolysis process, and the product was used in reinforcing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based hydrogel. The lignin content of LCNCs was quantitatively analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and LCNCs had 8–19 wt% lignin located on their surfaces. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the presence of lignin on LCNCs as small globular-like particles/patches. The increase in the lignin content of LCNCs increased the thermal stability and hydrophobicity while decreasing the crystallinity of LCNCs. Moreover, the effect of LCNC loading (0.1–1 wt%) on the mechanical strength, rheological properties, swelling behavior, morphology, and thermal stability of PVA-based hydrogel was further elucidated. The incorporation of LCNCs in hydrogel at a low dosage improved the swelling behavior of hydrogel. The lignin present on the surface of LCNCs led to enhanced viscoelasticity, increased compressive strength, and improved thermal stability of hydrogel. In addition, the pore size of the hydrogel dropped more significantly (4.26–1.52 μm) with the use of LCNCs containing more lignin. At a low dosage of 0.1 wt%, all studied properties of hydrogels were improved using the LCNC with high lignin content. This study provides a new prospect for the use of lignin-containing CNCs for the production of a high-performance hydrogel.

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Abbreviations

ONP:

Old newspaper

DP:

Deinked pulp

DPH:

Deinked pulp with high lignin content

DPL:

Deinked pulp with low lignin content

LCNCs:

Lignin-containing cellulose nanocrystals

LCNC-DP:

LCNC prepared from DP

LCNC-DPH:

LCNC prepared from DPH

LCNC-DPL:

LCNC prepared from DPL

PVA:

Polyvinyl alcohol

PVA-LCNC:

LCNC reinforced PVA hydrogel

PVA-LCNC-DP:

LCNC-DP reinforced PVA hydrogel

PVA-LCNC-DPH:

LCNC-DPH reinforced PVA hydrogel

PVA-LCNC-DPL:

LCNC-DPL reinforced PVA hydrogel

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support of the National Science Foundation of China (31670584, 31971602), Project of Excellent Young Scientist Fund by Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2018JL015), Outstanding Youth Innovation Team Project of Shandong Provincial University (2019KJC014).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, 250353, Shandong, China

    Yingchao Wang, Shanshan Liu, Qiang Wang & Xin Fu

  2. Green Processes Research Centre and Chemical Engineering Department, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada

    Yingchao Wang & Pedram Fatehi

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  1. Yingchao Wang
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  2. Shanshan Liu
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  3. Qiang Wang
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  4. Xin Fu
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Wang, Y., Liu, S., Wang, Q. et al. Performance of polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel reinforced with lignin-containing cellulose nanocrystals. Cellulose 27, 8725–8743 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03396-z

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