Populus alba L., an Autochthonous Species of Spain: A Source for Cellulose Nanofibers by Chemical Pretreatment

In order to identify new sustainable sources for producing cellulose nanofibers (CNFs), fast-growing poplar (Populus alba L.) wood was evaluated herein. For that purpose, bleached poplar kraft pulp was produced and submitted to TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical) mediated oxidation...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ibarra, David, Martín Sampedro, Raquel, Wicklein, Bernd, Borrero López, Antonio María, Valencia Barragán, Concepción, Valdehíta, Ana, Navas, José M., Eugenio, María Eugenia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
Repositorio:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/20942
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10272/20942
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Cellulose nanofibers
Chemical pretreatment
Cytotoxicity
Nanocellulose
Populus alba L.
Rheology
23 Química
Descripción
Sumario:In order to identify new sustainable sources for producing cellulose nanofibers (CNFs), fast-growing poplar (Populus alba L.) wood was evaluated herein. For that purpose, bleached poplar kraft pulp was produced and submitted to TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical) mediated oxidation (TEMPO-ox) chemical pretreatment followed by microfluidization. The resulting CNFs were thoroughly characterized, including a rheological study at different pH values. Poplar CNFs showed properties comparable to eucalypt CNFs (reference material for CNFs production), showing high carboxylate content (1048 ± 128 µmol g−1 ), fibrillation yield (87.3% ± 8.1%), optical transmittance (83% at 700 nm) and thermal stability (up to more than 200 ◦C). Regarding the rheological study, whereas pH from 4 to 10 did not produce significant changes in rheological behavior, a reduction of pH down to 1 led to an order-of-magnitude increase on the viscoelastic functions. Therefore, poplar CNF shows potential in the pH-sensitive hydrogels application field. Finally, the possible ecotoxicity of poplar CNF was assessed. The decrease in cell viability was very low so that only concentrations causing a 10% cytotoxicity could be calculated for the assay detecting alterations in cell metabolism (10 µg mL−1 ) and plasma membrane integrity (60 µg mL−1)