Hemp fibers are a very interesting natural material for textile and technical applications, but some of these applications require improved and/or specific fiber properties. In order to modify hemp fibers for obtaining high added value products, hemp fibers were oxidized with sodium hypochlorite and a catalytic amount of sodium bromide and 2,2,6,6tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxy radical (TEMPO), under various conditions. The oxidized hemp fibers were analyzed and characterized in terms of chemical composition (lignin and hemicelluloses) and weight loss, fineness, introduced functional groups, sorption (moisture sorption, water retention values, iodine sorption), and mechanical properties (tenacity and elongation). Applied TEMPO-mediated oxidation has been very efficient for simultaneous removal of noncellulosic substances (reduction of lignin content up to 1.95%) and introduction of surface functional groups, i.e., aldehyde (up to 0.415 mmol/g) and carboxyl groups (up to 0.815 mmol/g). The oxidized hemp fibers were finer, with a lower content of lignin and hemicelluloses and with improved water uptake properties.

No abstract

In this paper, we present the construction of a reliable and inexpensive pH stat device, by using open-source “OpenPhControl” software, inexpensive hardware (a peristaltic and a syringe pump, Arduino, a step motor…), readily available laboratory devices: a pH meter, a computer, a webcam, and some 3D printed parts. We provide a methodology for the design, development and test results of each part of the device, as well as of the entire system. In addition to dosing reagents by means of a low-cost peristaltic pump, we also present carefully controlled dosing of reagents by an open-source syringe pump. The upgrading of the basic open-source syringe pump is given in terms of pump control and application of a larger syringe. In addition to the basic functions of pH stat, i.e. pH value measurement and maintenance, an improvement allowing the device to be used for potentiometric titration has been made as well. We have demonstrated the device’s utility when applied for cellulose fibers oxidation with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical, i.e. for TEMPO-mediated oxidation. In support of this, we present the results obtained for the oxidation kinetics, the consumption of added reagent and experimental repeatability. Considering that the open-source scientific tools are available to everyone, and that researchers can construct and adjust the device according to their needs, as well as, that the total cost of the open-source pH stat device, excluding the existing laboratory equipment (pH meter, computer and glossary) was less than 150 EUR, we believe that, at a small fraction of the cost of available commercial offers, our open-source pH stat can significantly improve experimental work where the use of pH stat is necessary.

The aim of this study was to analyze binding of chitosan and chitosan nanoparticles onto cellulose via oxidized cellulose. The ability of chitosan and chitosan nanoparticles to be adsorbed onto surfaces was determined by the use of the XPS spectroscopy which provided information about chemical composition of the fiber surface. On the other hand, the gravimetric method was also used by which the amount of chitosan and chitosan nanoparticles bounded onto surface was calculated based on the difference in masses before and after functionalization. The most important was to study the influence of aldehyde groups on the stability of chitosan binding onto cellulose. Thus, desorption of chitosan/chitosan nanoparticles from the fiber surfaces was evaluated by the presence of total nitrogen (TN) in desorption bath as well as by polyelectrolyte titrations. Together with these two methods, desorption was evaluated also by gravimetric method, where the extent of desorption was evaluated on the basis of the differences in the masses of fibers before and after desorption. It is concluded that the chitosan and chitosan nanoparticles are more efficiently bounded onto oxidized cellulose in comparison with the nonoxidized (reference) ones. Despite the binding of the positively-charged amino groups with the negative groups of cellulose and consequently smaller amount of available/residual protonated amino groups that are responsible for bioactivity, such functionalized fibers are still specifically antimicrobial.

No abstract