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Determination of nanocellulose fibril length by shear viscosity measurement

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Abstract

The lengths of ten types of cellulose nanofibrils were evaluated by shear viscosity measurement of their dilute dispersions. Aqueous dispersions of surface-carboxylated cellulose nanofibrils with a uniform width of ~3 nm were prepared from wood cellulose by 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl-mediated oxidation and successive mechanical treatment. Cellulose nanofibril samples with different average lengths were prepared by controlling the conditions of the oxidation or mechanical treatment. The viscosity-average lengths, L visc, of the nanofibrils were calculated by applying the shear viscosities of the dilute dispersions to an equation for the dilute region flow behavior of rod-like polymer molecules. The obtained L visc values ranged from 1,100 to 2,500 nm and showed a linear relationship to the length-weighted average length, L w, measured by microscopic observation; the relation was described as L visc = 1.764 × L w + 764. The influences of the electric double-layer of the nanofibrils and surface-carboxylate content on the value of L visc were also investigated.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grants-in-Aids for Scientific Research (grant numbers 21228007, 23688020, and 201307645) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). We would like to thank Dr. Takehiko Uematsu and Anton Paar Japan K. K. for their assistance in shear viscosity measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomaterials Science, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Reina Tanaka, Tsuguyuki Saito, Daisuke Ishii & Akira Isogai

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  1. Reina Tanaka
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  2. Tsuguyuki Saito
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  3. Daisuke Ishii
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  4. Akira Isogai
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Correspondence to Akira Isogai.

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Tanaka, R., Saito, T., Ishii, D. et al. Determination of nanocellulose fibril length by shear viscosity measurement. Cellulose 21, 1581–1589 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-014-0196-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-014-0196-4

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