Microwave assisted synthesis of Polyacrylic acid grafted cellulose extracted from waste tea

Abstract

Cellulose was extracted from waste tea through the chemical treatments and characterized by FTIR, SEM and XRD. By using microwave assisted synthesis method, the extracted cellulose was used to prepare polyacrylic acid grafted cellulose with the study of three parameters which were molar ratio of cellulose to acrylic acid, initiator dosage and exposure time. The best condition was evaluated followed by characterization of the sample with FTIR, SEM and XRD. The FTIR, SEM and XRD were used to study the functional groups, surface morphology and crystallinity of the samples respectively. The successful removal of lignin and hemicellulose were indicated when there were the disappearance of a few spectra in cellulose, the reveal of smoother surface structures of cellulose and the higher crystallinity of cellulose compared to waste tea. The best condition for grafting was at molar ratio of cellulose to acrylic acid by 1:9, 0.0075 M of ceric ammonium nitrate and 2 minutes of exposure time with grafting percentage of 68.78 %. The peak broadening, increase of peak area and presence of certain peaks in spectra of polyacrylic acid grafted cellulose confirmed the successful grafting reaction. The bumpy structure and decrease of crystallinity for the polyacrylic acid grafted cellulose also confirmed the successful grafting reaction.