After extracting cellulose material from a source, how can it be turned into a nano particle sized material.
If you are coming from a top-down mindset, have you tried warm acid hydrolysis? Usually concentrated warm sulfuric acid would do the trick, but be aware of it is not a 'mild conditions' method. I was told someone had also made it with very diluted and controlled cellulase enzymes, but the problem there as non-glucose monomers like xylan and other glicans.
Cellulose can be converted to nanocelluloses like cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNF). CNF is composed of crystalline and amorphous regions with a high aspect ratio (length to width). Typically, the diameters and lengths are 5-100 nm and several micrometers, respectively while CNC are smaller rod like pure cellulose crystals with 5-70 nm in diameters and 100-300 nm in length.
CNC and CNF can be prepared from any cellulosis-based materials including wood pulp, recycled paper and paperboard, cotton fibres, and other agro-biomass. CNC can be prepared by chemical (acid hydrolysis or oxidation) or biological (enzymatic) treatment to cleave the amorphous regions of the cellulose fibers. Acid hydrolysis using concentrated sulfuric acid is the predominant and most efficient chemical method to produce CNC. However, CNF can be prepared by using mechanical methods with or without pre-treatment.
Hope this will help.
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