Impact of ionic liquid type on the structure, morphology and properties of silk-cellulose biocomposite materials.

Microcrystalline cellulose and Bombyx mori silk blended biocomposite films were regenerated using various imidazolium-based ionic liquids. The films were characterized to understand the effect of the inter- and intra-molecular interactions upon the morphology and thermal properties. Various techniques were implemented to investigate structural, morphological and thermal properties of the biocomposite films, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray scattering.