THE EFFECT OF CENTRIFUGATION STAGE ON CELLULOSE NANOCRYSTALS’ SIZE

Abstract

The relation between the cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) dynamic properties and the centrifugation G force applied on their purification process was investigated using the depolarized dynamic light scattering technic. Samples containing CNC were prepared using sulfuric acid hydrolysis and centrifugated on the following G forces: 1840, 4140, 7370, 11510 e 16580. The translational and rotational diffusion coefficients were determined for the different samples, from these values, the CNC widths (d) and lengths (L) were calculated. The values for the d and L lied from 213 ± 10 nm to 294 ± 14 nm and 4,4 ± 1,2 nm to 9,5 ± 2,0nm, respectively. The results agree with the the literature, confirming the applicability of the technic on the study of NCC dynamic properties in aqueous suspensions. There was no significant variation on the values of L by the increment on the G force within the studied interval. On the other hand, d reduced with the G force increase for values above 7370.

Keywords

• nanocristais de celulose
• centrifugação
• força G
• espalhamento dinâmico de luz
• caracterização de nanoestruturas