Cellulose nanocrystals-reinforced core-shell hydrogels for sustained release of fertilizer and water retention.

Core-shell (CS) hydrogels show great potential for the controlled release of fertilizers. In this work, we prepared an alginate-coated gelatin-cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) hydrogel by a simple layer-by-layer process. CNCs were prepared from cotton linter fibers by the sulfuric acid process.

Tailoring strength of nanocellulose foams by electrostatic complexation.

Supramolecular assembly of biobased components in water is a promising strategy to construct advanced materials. Herein, electrostatic complexation was used to prepare wet-resilient foams with improved mechanical property. Small-angle X-ray scattering and cryo-transmission electron microscopy experiments showed that suspensions with oppositely charged cellulose nanofibers are a mixture of clusters and networks of entangled fibers.

Improvement of polyvinyl alcohol properties by adding nanocrystalline cellulose isolated from banana pseudostems.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) isolated from banana pseudostems fibers (BPF) of the Pacovan variety were used as fillers in a polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) matrix to yield a nanocomposite. The fibers from the external fractions of the BPF were alkaline bleached and hydrolyzed under acidic conditions (H2SO4 62% w/w, 70 min, 45 °C) to obtain CNCs with a length (L) of 135.0 ± 12.

Extraction and characterization of nanocellulose structures from raw cotton linter.

This study aimed to characterize nanocellulose extracted from cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) linters. The nanocellulose was subjected to electronic microscopy, thermal analysis, X-ray diffractometry, light scattering, and contact angle. The properties of the nanocellulose are considerably different from the linter.