Synthesis and characterization of polyvinyl alcohol/nanospherical cellulose particle films

A procedure for synthesizing cellulose nanospheres with size of 5.9 and 10.9 nm for cotton linter and linen, respectively, was developed. A series of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/nano-cellulose films were cast. Mechanical, biodegradation and scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of nano-cellulose-filled PVA films were studied. With the addition of 20% nano-cellulose from linen there was an increase in the tensile strength and percentage elongation at break. The SEM indicates the change in the morphological structure of the PVA films in the presence of different percent of nano-cellulose.