Sains Malaysiana 43(8)(2014): 1221-1229

 

Properties of Cellulose Hydrogel from Kenaf Core Prepared via

Pre-cooled Dissolving Method

(Sifat Selulosa Hidrogel daripada Teras Kenaf Menggunakan Kaedah Pra-penyejukan)

 

 

HATIKA KACO1, SARANI ZAKARIA*1, NUR FAZLINDA RAZALI1, CHIN HUA CHIA1,

 LINA ZHANG2 & SAAD MOHAMAD JANI3

 

1School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

43600 Bangi, Selangor, D.E. Malaysia

 

2Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, China

 

3Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Malaysia

 

Received: 18 September 2013/Accepted: 7 December 2013

 

ABSTRACT

Hydrogels were produced from cellulose derived from kenaf core powder with weight average molecular weight of cellulose was 1.68 × 105 and was dissolved in NaOH/urea solvent at -13oC. To obtain the optimal dissolving parameters, different percentage of NaOH, urea and kenaf core cellulose was used to study the degree of dissolution and formation of hydrogel. From the results obtained, it was found that the ratio of 6% NaOH/4% urea and 2% cellulose produced a good hydrogel. UV-Vis spectroscopy and XRD analysis were performed to analyze the transparency and crystallinity index of the cellulose solution and hydrogel, respectively. It showed that the hydrogel with the highest degree of solubility gave highest transparency due to the reduction of cellulose crystallinity as a result of the dissolution process. XRD analysis results showed the crystallinity of cellulose from kenaf core decreased by 70% after dissolution and hydrogel formation. Samples with 4% urea possess highest water content of 73% and decreased with increasing urea content.

 

Keywords: Crystallinity; dissolution; hydrogel; kenaf core; transparency

 

ABSTRAK

Hidrogel telah berjaya dihasilkan daripada selulosa serbuk teras kenaf dengan didapati purata berat molekul selulosanya adalah 1.68 × 105. Selulosa ini kemudiannya dilarutkan dalam pelarut NaOH/urea pada suhu -13oC. Bagi mendapatkan parameter yang optimum, peratus NaOH, urea dan berat selulosa divariasikan. Hasilnya didapati bahawa nisbah 6% NaOH/4% urea dan 2% selulosa dapat menghasilkan hidrogel yang paling baik. Analisis spektroskopi UV-Vis dan XRD dijalankan untuk menganalisis ketelusan dan index kehabluran larutan selulosa dan hidrogel yang terhasil. Hidrogel dengan peratus kelarutan yang paling tinggi mempunyai ketelusan yang paling baik. Ini adalah disebabkan oleh peratus kehabluran selulosa semakin berkurang disebabkan oleh hasil proses pelarutan yang dilakukan. Analisis XRD menunjukkan selulosa daripada teras kenaf mengalami pengurangan daripada segi kehabluran sebanyak 70% selepas proses pelarutan dan pembentukan hidrogel. Sampel dengan kandungan urea sebanyak 4% menunjukkan peratus kandungan air yang paling tinggi iaitu 73% dan menurun dengan peningkatan kandungan urea.

 

Kata kunci: Hidrogel; kehabluran; kelarutan; ketelusan; teras kenaf

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*Corresponding author; email: szakaria@ukm.edu.my

 

 

 

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