Surface Functionalization of Sugarcane-Bagasse-Derived Cellulose Nanocrystal for Pickering Emulsion Gel: Microstructural Properties and Stability Efficiency
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2023
Abstract
An environmentally friendly Pickering stabilizer was developed by upcycling sugarcane bagasse (SCB) into a cellulose nanocrystal (CNC), which was subjected to surface modification by using quaternary ammonium compound to enhance its amphiphilic characteristics. The changes in microstructural properties of modified cellulose nanocrystal (m-CNC), such as surface functional group, thermal stability, surface morphology, elemental composition, and particle size distribution were investigated. Results indicated the success of quaternary ammonium compound grafting with the presence of a trimethyl-alkyl chain on the cellulose structure, while the m-CNC preserves the needle-like nanoparticles in length of similar to 534 nm and width of similar to 20 nm. The colloidal profile of m-CNC-stabilized oil-water emulsion gels with different concentrations of m-CNC (1-5 wt%), and oil:water (O:W) ratios (3:7, 5:5, 7:3) were examined. The emulsion gel stability study indicated that the optimal concentration of m-CNC (3 wt%) was able to stabilize all the emulsion gels at different O:W ratios with an emulsion index of >80% for 3 months. It is the minimum concentration of m-CNC to form a robust colloidal network around the small oil droplets, leading to the formation of stable emulsion gels. The emulsion gel with O:W ratio (3:7) with 3 wt% of m-CNC rendered the best m-CNC-oil-droplets dispersion. The m-CNC effectively retained the size of oil droplets (<10 mu m for 3 months storage) against coalescence and creaming by creating a steric barrier between the two immiscible phases. Furthermore, the emulsion gel exhibited the highest viscosity and storage modulus which was able to prevent creaming or sedimentation of the emulsion gels.
Keywords
biomass, nanocellulose, stearyltrimethylammonium chloride, surface modification, dispersion-adsorption, colloidal stability, rheology analysis
Divisions
fac_eng,sch_che,nanotechnology
Funders
Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE),Malaysia-Prototype Development Research Grant Scheme (PRGS/1/2020/STG05/UM/02/1),Global ENVDK Sdn. Bhd. (PV032-2023)
Publication Title
Gels
Volume
9
Issue
9
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher Location
ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND