Spherical vs rod-like cellulose nanocrystals from enzymolysis: A comparative study as reinforcing agents on polyvinyl alcohol

In this paper, we have isolated cellulose nanocrystallines (CNCs) with different morphologies by enzymatic hydrolysis, and prepared flexible and transparent nanocomposite films with PVA matrix via solution casting. By means of SEM, UV–vis, XRD, DTG, FT-IR and mechanical methods, the effects of rod-shaped cellulose nanocrystallines (RCNCs) and spherical cellulose nanocrystallines (SCNCs) on PVA nanocomposite films were compared systematically. The results showed CNCs with different morphologies had little effect on the transparency of the composite films, and the crystallinity fluctuated with the change of CNCs additive amount. Compared with the RCNCs, SCNCs had a better improve ability to the thermal stability of the composite films by promoting pyrolysis temperature 60−80 °C. On the contrary, the maximum mechanical properties of the composite films of RCNCs were much higher than those of SCNCs, and the Young's modulus of the PVA/RCNCs composite film were increased by 120.97 % in comparison with the pure PVA.