Cigarette waste pollutes the environment and is a desired problem to be addressed by humans. However, such waste can be recycled by converting it into raw material for the manufacture of new products. In this study, cigarette butt waste was collected and used for fabricating thin films of cellulose acetate nanofibers (TFCAN) through electrospinning or acid hydrolysis processes. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed to characterize the structural and thermal properties of TFCAN. FTIR and TGA results for the TFCAN obtained from acid hydrolysis process showed similar behavior for cellulose nanocrystals. The images from scanning electron and atomic force microscope confirmed the obtaining of TFCAN.

FT-Raman spectroscopic studies of photodegraded polyethylene films have enabled the evolution of the crystallinity process to be measured. Commercial polyethylene films of Mw9O 000 were exposed in a weathering W-chamber under known conditions of exposure time and radiant energy. The spectral profiles were modelled using Fourier methods. The relative amounts of the orthorrombic crystalline phase, ac, the amorphous phase, a a and the interphase, ab, were calculated using Raman bands at 1416 cm-1 characteristic of the crystalline phase and the bands at 1080, 1305 cm-1, characteristic of the amorphous phase. The interphase content can be calculated fiom the relationship ab= l-(ac+aa). It was found that the weathering process affects only the relative intensities of the bands attniuted to crystalline and amorphous fiactions; the crystalline content increases at the expenses of the amorphous fiaction. These results are discussed in terms of the changes in the intermolecular forces caused by radiation exposure.