Kraft lignin and silica as precursors of advanced composite materials and electroactive blends

Abstract

In this study, advanced multifunctional silica/ lignin composite materials have been prepared. The main focus of this study includes the chemical modification of Kraft lignin, and its interaction with silica matrix, thereby providing the possibility of applying the obtained systems in a number of areas, including electrochemistry. Analysis of dispersive-morphological properties revealed that the samples containing 10-20 parts by weight of lignin had the best parameters. The elemental analysis of the final composites, thus, obtained indicated an increase in the contents of carbon, hydrogen and sulphur with increasing quantity of lignin used. Spectrophotometric evaluation of the products obtained, proves the successful synthesis of silica/ lignin composites which is manifested by the presence of characteristic bands of appropriate functional groups. The increasing intensity of these bands with increasing content of lignin in the silica matrix conforms entirely with the expectations. Thus, obtained composite powders were blended with multiwalled carbon nanotubes at the mass ratio of 1:2 with the aid of ultrasound. The blends were cast-deposited on glassy carbon electrode and the electrochemical activity was assessed by cyclic voltammetry. It revealed the presence of a redox system assigned to ligninderived quinone/hydroquinone couple.

Kraft lignin/silica–AgNPs as a functional material with antibacterial activity

“…2a also shows the spectrum for kraft lignin. The characteristic bands associated with the presence of specific functional groups in lignin have been identified and described in our previous publications [34,35] and confirmed by other authors [42]. Also shown in Fig.…”

“…The effectiveness of the chemical bonding between silica and lignin was also confirmed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), as described in [34]. In another publication [35] a mechanism for the reaction has been proposed.…”

“…The product was dried at 105 • C for 24 h and then classified. A detailed description of the synthesis of silica/lignin hybrid materials is given in [34][35][36].…”

Supermolecular structure and nucleation ability of polylactide-based composites with silica/lignin hybrid fillers

“…Preparation of functional hybrid filler combining mechanical and thermal properties of inorganic silica with availability and low-cost organic lignin gains more interest these days [33,34]. The resulting hybrid materials could be used as polymer fillers or biosorbents [33,35,36].…”

Nucleation ability of advanced functional silica/lignin hybrid fillers in polypropylene composites

“…Recently, much attention has been paid to the possibility of preparation functional fillers of silica combined with natural polymers, including lignin [39,40]. Silica with its good mechanical and thermal resistance can form interesting combination with cheap and environmentally friendly lignin.…”