Development and characterization of nano‐crystalline cellulose incorporated poly(lactic acid) composite films

Development of nano‐cellulose has fascinated a substantial attention for last few decades because of their exceptional and potentially useful features. Herein, nano‐crystalline cellulose has successfully been prepared from local cotton yarn via acid hydrolysis. Both X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy showed improvement in crystallinity of nano‐crystalline cellulose on acid hydrolysis of cotton yarn. The prepared nano‐crystalline cellulose has been used for the fabrication of poly(lactic acid) composite films using solution casting approach. The prepared composite films were characterized using advanced analytical techniques. The differential scanning calorimetry analysis, moreover, showed that on incorporating nano‐crystalline cellulose in the poly(lactic acid) matrix, glass transition temperature increased; whereas, melting temperature and cold crystallization temperature decreased. The decreasing value of crystallization temperature indicated an enhancement in chain mobility of composite films. The mechanical analysis showed that the composite films were stronger and more flexible than the pure poly(lactic acid) films.