| Affiliation: | 1. Faculty of Chemical Technology, Department of Graphic Arts and Photophysics, University of Pardubice, Doubravice 41, 533 53 Pardubice, Czech Republic
Faculty of Chemical Technology, Center of Materials and Nanotechnologies, University of Pardubice, nám. Cs. legií 565 53002 Pardubice, Czech Republic;2. Faculty of Chemical Technology, Department of Graphic Arts and Photophysics, University of Pardubice, Doubravice 41, 533 53 Pardubice, Czech Republic;3. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Technologies and Measurement/RICE, University of West Bohemia, Univerzitni 8, 306 14 Plzen, Czech Republic;4. Programa de Celulosa y Papel, Instituto de Materiales de Misiones (IMAM), Féliz de Azara 1552 3300 Posadas, Misiones, Argentina;5. RISE PFI, Høgskoleringen 6b Trondheim, Norway |
| Abstract: | Cellulose nanofibril (CNF) films were prepared from side streams generated by the sugarcane industry, that is, bagasse. Two fractionation processes were utilized for comparison purposes: (1) soda and (2) hot water and soda pretreatments. 2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl-mediated oxidation was applied to facilitate the nanofibrillation of the bagasse fibers. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was chosen as plasticizer to improve the ductility of CNF films. The neat CNF and biocomposite films (CNF and 40% PEG) were used for fabrication of self-standing humidity sensors. CNF-based humidity sensors exhibited high change of impedance, within four orders of magnitude, in response to relative humidity (RH) from 20 to 90%. The use of plasticizer had an impact on sensor kinetics. While the biocomposite film sensors showed slightly longer response time, the recovery time of these plasticized sensors was two times shorter in comparison to sensors without PEG. This study demonstrated that agroindustrial side streams can form the basis for high-end applications such as humidity sensors, with potential for, for example, packaging and wound dressing applications. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47920. |
