Microstructure and surface properties of fibrous and ground cellulosic substrates

Cotton and linen fibers were ground in a ball-mill, and the effect of grinding on the microstructure and surface properties of the fibers was determined by combining a couple of simple tests with powerful techniques of surface and structure analysis. Results clearly proved that the effect of grinding on cotton fiber was much less severe than on linen. For both fibers, the degree of polymerization reduced (by 14.5% and 30.5% for cotton and linen, respectively) with a simultaneous increase in copper number. The increased water sorption capacity of the ground substrates was in good agreement with the X-ray results, which proved a less perfect crystalline structure in the ground samples. Data from XPS and SEM-EDS methods revealed that the concentration of oxygen atoms (bonded especially in acetal and/or carbonyl groups) on the ground surfaces increased significantly, resulting in an increase in oxygen/carbon atomic ratio (XPS data: from 0.11 to 0.14 and from 0.16 to 0.29 for cotton and linen, respectively). Although grinding created new surfaces rich in O atoms, the probable higher energy of the surface could not be measured by IGC, most likely due to the limited adsorption of the n-alkane probes on the less perfect crystalline surfaces.     

Physicochemical properties of chemically and enzymatically modified cellulosic surfaces

Surface characteristics of modified cotton fibers have been studied using electrokinetic analysis (EKA), inverse gas chromatography (IGC) and dynamic contact angle (DCA) determinations. Modifications of cotton surfaces included mercerization, water-proofing, cross-linking, dyeing with a bifunctional reactive dye and cellulase biopolishing. Comparisons are made to linen as an example of a natural cellulosic fiber other than cotton and to rayon as a representative of a regenerated cellulosic fiber. Generally all cellulosic surfaces were bipolar with a slightly higher acidic contribution in the case of the cotton samples. EKA indicated ion dissociation as the predominant mechanism for surface charge in aqueous medium for all cellulosic samples, with the exception of greige cotton and the cotton sample with the hydrophobic finish. Results from EKA and IGC showed good correlation, while DCA yielded unreasonably high basic contributions most likely due to fiber swelling.     

Use of inverse gas chromatography to characterize cotton fabrics and their interactions with fragrance molecules at controlled relative humidity

The present work focused on the surface characterization and fragrance interactions of a common cotton towel at different relative humidities (RHs) using inverse gas chromatography (IGC) and dynamic vapour sorption. The sigmoidal water sorption isotherms showed a maximum of 16% (w/w) water uptake with limited swelling at 100% RH. This means that water interacts strongly with cotton and might change its initial physico-chemical properties. The same cotton towel was then packed in a glass column and characterized by IGC at different relative humidities, calculating the dispersive and specific surface energy components. The dispersive component of the surface energy decreases slightly as a function of relative humidity (42 mJ/m2 at 0% RH to 36 mJ/m2 at 80% RH) which would be expected from swelling of the humidified cotton. The Gutmann's donor constant Kd increased from 0.28 kJ/mol at 0% RH to 0.42 kJ/mol at 80% RH, indicating that a greater hydrophilic surface exists at 80% RH, which is also as expected. Water, undecane and four fragrance molecules (dimetol, benzyl acetate, decanal and phenylethanol) were used to investigate cotton-fragrance interactions between 0 and 80% RH. The adsorption enthalpies and the Henry's constants were calculated and are discussed. The higher values for the adsorption enthalpies of polar molecules such as dimetol and phenylethanol suggest the presence of hydrogen bonds as the main adsorption mechanism. The Henry's constant of dimetol was also determined by headspace gas chromatography measurements at 20% RH, giving a similar value (230 nmol/Pa g by IGC and 130 nmol/Pa g by headspace GC), supporting the usefulness of IGC for such determinations. This work confirms the usefulness of chromatographic methods to investigate biopolymers such as textiles, starches and hairs.     

Surface characterization of industrial fibers with inverse gas chromatography

Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was applied for the determination of the surface characteristics of Tenax carbon fibers and Akzo Nobel Twaron fibers. Furthermore, IGC procedures for the determination of dispersive and acid-base interactions were validated. The data show that too high values for the dispersive component of the surface energy are obtained when the adsorption area occupied by a single adsorbed n-alkane molecule is estimated from parameters of the corresponding liquid. Comparable values are obtained when the Doris-Gray methodology (area per methylene unit) or measured probe areas are employed. For the fibers studied in this work meaningful Gibbs energy values of the acid-base interaction were only obtained with the polarizability approach. When the dispersive interaction of the polar probes with the fiber surface was scaled to the n-alkane interaction via surface tension, the boiling point, or the vapor pressure of the probes often negative acid-base interaction energies were found. From the temperature dependence of the Gibbs energy, the enthalpy of the acid-base interactions of various probes with the carbon and Twaron aramid fibers was determined. However, from these enthalpy values no meaningful acid-base surface parameters could be obtained. Generally, the limited accuracy with which these parameters can be obtained make the usefulness of this procedure questionable. Also the Gibbs energy data of acid-base interaction can provide a qualitative basis to classify the acidity-basicity of the fiber surface. This latter approach requires only a limited data set and is sufficiently rapid to enable the use of IGC as a screening tool for fibers at a production site. For several polar probes significant concentration effects on carbon fibers were observed. At very low probe loadings the interaction with the fiber surface suddenly increases. This effect is caused by the heterogeneity of the interaction energy of the active sites at the surface. A simple procedure to measure the adsorption isotherm at infinite dilution was developed. The determination of the concentration dependence of the interaction of an n-alkane, an acidic and a basic probe was incorporated in the IGC screening procedure of carbon fibers to monitor this heterogeneity.     

Effect of surface heterogeneity on adsorption on solid surfaces. Application of inverse gas chromatography in the studies of energetic heterogeneity of adsorbents

The paper presents a literature review of the chromatographic methods used for investigations of the heterogeneity of solid surfaces. Special attention is paid to inverse gas chromatography (IGC). Quantitative characteristics of heterogeneity of real solid surfaces including extreme models on adsorption centre topography of the "patch-wise" and "random" types are described. Analytical and numerical methods used for calculating the adsorption energy distribution function as a quantitative measure of surface heterogeneity are presented. Special attention is paid to the condensation approximation as well as to other approximations based on this assumption. IGC is presented as a quick, precise and effective method to characterise physicochemical properties of different kinds of adsorbents. Advantages of IGC over traditional methods of gas and vapour adsorption are shown.     

Surface modification of lignocellulosic fibers using high-frequency ultrasound

Enzymatic and chemical oxidation of fiber surfaces has been reported in the literature as a method for producing medium density fiberboards without using synthetic adhesives. This work focuses on modifying the surface properties of wood fibers by the generation of free radicals using high-frequency ultrasound. A sonochemical reactor operating at 610 kHz is used to sonicate the aqueous suspensions of thermomechanical pulp fibers (TMP). TMP is analyzed using FTIR-transmission, FTIR-ATR spectroscopy and inverse gas chromatography (IGC). The non-conjugated carbonyl groups in TMP are represented by the peak area ratio A₁₇₃₆/A₁₅₁₁ in the FTIR-transmission spectra and by A₁₇₂₈/A₁₅₀₉ in the FTIR-ATR spectra. The increase in these ratios suggests that there is an increase in the number of non-conjugated carbonyl groups in TMP after sonication. To further investigate, sonication of the hydrolytic lignin was also carried out and analyzed using UV, UV-ionization and FTIR-transmission spectroscopy. The changes in the surface properties of the fibers are analyzed using IGC which showed an increase in the surface free energy of fibers. The effect of operating parameters such as power of ultrasound and sonication time is also studied.     

The surface properties of cellulose and lignocellulosic materials assessed by inverse gas chromatography: a review

The physicochemical surface properties of cellulose and lignocellulosic materials are of major importance in the context of the production of composites, in papermaking, and textile area. These properties can be evaluated by using inverse gas chromatography (IGC), a particularly suitable technique for the characterization of the surface properties of fibrous materials and powders. At infinite dilution conditions of appropriate gas probes, IGC may provide important parameters including the dispersive component of the surface energy of the material under analysis, thermodynamic data on the adsorption of specific probes, and Lewis acid–base interaction parameters between the matrix and the filler of composite materials. This paper critically reviews the most relevant results available in the literature concerning the characterization of cellulose and lignocellulosic materials using IGC. Emphasis will be put into the cellulose and nanocellulose surface properties, changes in the surface properties of cellulose and lignocellulosic materials after chemical and physical modifications, and in the compatibility of cellulose-based materials with polymeric matrices. The surface properties of non-woody fibers will also be considered. Before discussing the results available in the literature, the theoretical background and the main approaches used for the calculation of parameters accessed by IGC will be given. It is expected that this review can contribute to a better knowledge of the physicochemical surface properties of cellulosics.     

Surface characterization of cellulose fibres by XPS and inverse gas chromatography

Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was used to determine the dispersive component of the free energy as well as the acid-base properties of cellulose fibre surfaces, before and after modification by corona treatment. It was found that the corona treatment increases both the dispersive contribution to surface energy and its acidic character, whereas only a slight increase in its basicity was observed. It was also found that some chemical degradation of the surface occurs at high corona currents. The extent of modification of the surface properties, as revealed by IGC, was correlated to the surface chemical composition deduced from XPS analysis as well as with the electrical conductance and the pH of the water suspensions of the cellulose fibres.     

Surface properties of bamboo fiber and a comparison with cotton linter fibers

In order to understand the different touch senses from bamboo and cotton fibers, the surface properties of bamboo fiber, e.g., the surface free energy, the Lifshitz–van der Waals force, and Lewis acid and base components have been determined using the column wicking technique. Taking the traditional cotton linter fiber as a reference, this paper shows that both these fibers have the similar surface free energies. However, a big difference between these two fibers which has been importantly observed is that the bamboo fiber having greater Lewis acid component seems to be double than the cotton linter fiber. Since water has been found to have such surface property, it is suggested that the bamboo fiber touch in the skin of people may like the touch between water and skin of people. Meanwhile, other surface properties of these two fibers are compared.     

Determination of the surface characteristics of particulate fillers by inverse gas chromatography at infinite dilution: a critical approach

CaCO3 fillers were investigated by inverse gas chromatography (IGC) to determine the dispersion component of their surface tension as well as their acid-base character. Because of the high energy of the filler surface, it readily adsorbs water, thus the parameters measured by IGC depend on the conditioning temperature, as well as on the measurement conditions. As a consequence, the determined surface characteristics are not material constants; different fillers or the effect of coating can be compared only under standard conditions. The use of the same conditioning and measurement temperature eliminates the effect of measurement time. Under appropriate standard conditions the acid-base characteristics of the filler can be determined reliably. However, the accuracy of the determination and the value of the derived parameters depend very much on the selected approach and on the acid-base constants used for the probe molecules. A critical analysis of the approaches used in the current literature pointed out those that yield the most reasonable and accurate values. The results prove that the surface of CaCO3 is strongly basic in character. Coating significantly reduces basicity. Surprisingly, the filler coated with an amount of stearic acid resulting in minimum surface tension showed relatively strong acidity, which indicates a coating exceeding monolayer coverage and/or the uneven distribution of the surfactant on the surface.     

Improvement of bagasse fiber–cement composites by addition of bacterial nanocellulose: an inverse gas chromatography study

The design of green fiber-reinforced nanocomposites with enhanced properties and durability has attracted attention from scientists. The present study aims to investigate the potential of bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) as a green additive for fiber–cement composites. Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was used to evaluate the influence of incorporation of BNC as powder or gel, or coated onto the bagasse fibers, on the fiber–cement composite (FCC) surface. The results indicated that BNC incorporation made the FCC surface more reactive, increasing the dispersive component of the surface energy. The most relevant effects were found for BNC incorporation as gel or coated on the fibers. Incorporation of BNC as gel resulted in a predominantly organic FCC surface with substantial decreased surface basicity (K _a/K _b ratio from 2.88 to 5.75). IGC also showed that FCC with BNC incorporated as gel was more susceptible to hydration. However, BNC coated on fibers prevented fiber mineralization, increasing the inorganic materials at the surface, which caused an increase in the surface basicity (K _a/K _b ratio decrease to 2.00). These promising results could contribute to development of a new generation of green hybrid composites. The IGC technique enabled understanding of the physicochemical changes that occur on deliberate introduction of nanosized bacterial cellulose into fiber–cement composites.     

The effective surface energy of heterogeneous solids measured by inverse gas chromatography at infinite dilution

Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) at infinite dilution has been widely used to access the nonspecific surface free energy of solid materials. Since most practical surfaces are heterogeneous, the effective surface energy given by IGC at infinite dilution is somehow averaged over the whole sample surface, but the rule of averaging has thus far not been established. To address this problem, infinite dilution IGC analysis was carried out on mixtures of known heterogeneity. These materials are obtained by mixing two types of solid particles with significantly different surface energies as characterized individually with IGC, and results are obtained for binary combinations in varying proportions. It is found that when all surface components have the same accessibility by probe molecules, the effective surface energy of such a heterogeneous surface is related to the surface energy distribution by a square root linear relationship, square root sigma(eff)(LW)= summation operator (i)phi(i) square root sigma(i)(LW), where sigma(i)(LW) refers to the nonspecific (Lifshitz-van der Waals) surface energy of patches i, and phi(i) to their area fraction.     

Comparison of Dorris-Gray and Schultz methods for the calculation of surface dispersive free energy by inverse gas chromatography

Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) is an important technique for the characterization of surface properties of solid materials. A standard method of surface characterization is that the surface dispersive free energy of the solid stationary phase is firstly determined by using a series of linear alkane liquids as molecular probes, and then the acid-base parameters are calculated from the dispersive parameters. However, for the calculation of surface dispersive free energy, generally, two different methods are used, which are Dorris-Gray method and Schultz method. In this paper, the results calculated from Dorris-Gray method and Schultz method are compared through calculating their ratio with their basic equations and parameters. It can be concluded that the dispersive parameters calculated with Dorris-Gray method will always be larger than the data calculated with Schultz method. When the measuring temperature increases, the ratio increases large. Compared with the parameters in solvents handbook, it seems that the traditional surface free energy parameters of n-alkanes listed in the papers using Schultz method are not enough accurate, which can be proved with a published IGC experimental result.     

反相气相色谱表征可溶性聚酰亚胺的表面性质

采用反相气相色谱技术,将正己烷、正庚烷、正辛烷、正壬烷作为非极性分子探针,乙醚、丙酮、三氯甲烷作为极性分子探针在50℃、60℃、70℃和80℃条件下测定了可溶性聚酰亚胺HQDPA-DMMDA的表面色散自由能与表面Lewis酸碱性质.HQDPA-DMMDA在50℃、60℃、70℃和80℃的表面色散自由能分别为34.37、31.80、29.50和27.64 mJ/m2,自由能随温度的升高而线性降低.实验发现,HQDPA-DMMDA为弱的Lewis两性聚合物材料,其Lewis酸常数Ka为0.4115,碱常数Kb为0.5812.     

Surface modification of high-performance polymeric fibers by an oxygen plasma. A comparative study of poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) and poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole)

Poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) and poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO) fibers were exposed to an oxygen plasma under equivalent conditions. The resulting changes in the surface properties of PPTA and PBO were comparatively investigated using inverse gas chromatography (IGC) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Both non-polar (n-alkanes) and polar probes of different acid-base characteristics were used in IGC adsorption experiments. Following plasma exposure, size-exclusion phenomena, probably associated to the formation of pores (nanoroughness), were detected with the largest n-alkanes (C(9) and C(10)). From the adsorption of polar probes, an increase in the number or strength of the acidic and basic sites present at the fiber surfaces following plasma treatment was detected. The effects of the oxygen plasma treatments were similar for PPTA and PBO. In both cases, oxygen plasma introduces polar groups onto the surfaces, involving an increase in the degree of surface nanoroughness. AFM measurements evidenced substantial changes in the surface morphology at the nanometer scale, especially after plasma exposure for a long time. For the PBO fibers, the outermost layer - contaminant substances - was removed thanks to the plasma treatment, which indicates that this agent had a surface cleaning effect.     

反气相色谱法测定锌镁铝类水滑石的表面性能

采用水热合成法制备了锌镁铝类水滑石(ZnMgAl-HTLC),利用X射线衍射仪(XRD)对ZnMgAl-HTLC的晶体结构进行了表征,并以一系列非极性和极性分子为探针分子,采用反气相色谱法(IGC)研究了ZnMgAl-HTLC的表面性能.结果表明:XRD特征衍射峰窄、尖、高,水热合成法能够制得纯度较高的ZnMgAl-HTLC; ZnMgAl-HTLC表面吸附自由能小于零,表面色散自由能最大为6.02 mJ/m²,酸碱作用自由能最大为5.33 kJ/mol,吸附焓为43.6 kJ/mol,吸附熵为0.15 kJ/mol.本文的反气相色谱方法对研究锌镁铝类水滑石的表面性能具有重要的指导意义.     

Studies on the cellulose-binding domains adsorption to cellulose

Cellulose-binding domains (CBD) are modular peptides, present in many glycanases, which anchor these enzymes to the substrate. In this work, the effect of CBD adsorption on the surface properties of a model cellulose, Whatman CF11, was studied. The methods applied include inverse gas chromatography (IGC), ESCA, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The CBD partition affinity (0.85 L/g) was calculated from adsorption isotherms. However, true adsorption equilibrium does not exist, since CBDs are apparently irreversibly adsorbed to the fibers. Both IGC and ESCA showed that fibers with adsorbed CBD have a lower acidic character and also a slightly higher affinity toward aliphatic molecules. This may however be a consequence of an increased surface area, a hypothesis that is supported by microscopic observations. The crystallinity index was not affected by CBD treatment.     

Influence of relative humidity on the properties of examined materials by means of inverse gas chromatography

Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) at infinite dilution was applied to evaluate the surface properties of sorbents and the effect of different carrier gas humidity. They were stored in different environmental humidity – 29%, 40%, and 80%. The dispersive components of the surface free energy of the zeolites and perlite were determined by Schulz-Lavielle method, whereas their tendency to undergo specific interactions was estimated basing on the electron donor–acceptor approach presented by Flour and Papirer. Surface parameters were used to monitor the changes of the properties caused by the humidity of the storage environment as well as of RH of carrier gas. The increase of humidity of storage environment caused a decrease of sorbents surface activity and increase the ability to specific interaction.     

树莓状超疏水多孔复合棉纤维的制备及油水分离性能

基于聚多巴胺（PDA）的化学性质和树莓状纳米粒子的粗糙结构,以聚多巴胺包覆的棉纤维为基底,制备了具有多重粗糙度的树莓状超疏水多孔复合棉纤维材料.通过扫描电子显微镜观察树莓状超疏水多孔复合棉纤维表面的微观形貌,PDA-SiO₂纳米粒子稳定地固定在聚多巴胺涂覆的棉纤维表面.经过氟化改性的树莓状超疏水多孔复合棉纤维具有超疏水性,水接触角为158.2°,油接触角为0°.油/水分离实验结果表明,树莓状超疏水多孔复合棉纤维对己烷/水混合物的分离效率可达99.4%以上,使用20次后仍维持较高的分离效率.同时,其具有较高的溶剂吸附能力（13~34 g/g）、重复使用性及机械稳定性,吸油能力可与硅气凝胶相媲美.     

Adsorption of volatile organic compounds onto carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, and high-surface-area graphites

The adsorption of different alkanes (linear and cyclic), aromatics, and chlorohydrocarbons onto different nonmicroporous carbons--multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon nanofibers (CNFs), and high-surface-area graphites (HSAGs)--is studied in this work by inverse gas chromatography (IGC). Capacity of adsorption was derived from the isotherms of adsorption, whereas thermodynamic properties (enthalpy of adsorption, surface free energy characteristics) have been determined from chromatographic retention data. HSAGs present the highest adsorption capacity, followed by CNTs and CNFs (although CNTs present an intermediate surface area between the two HSAG studied). Among the different adsorbates tested, benzene exhibits the highest adsorption capacity, and the same trend is observed in the enthalpy of adsorption. From surface free energy data, enthalpies of adsorption of polar compounds were divided into dispersive and specific contributions. The interactions of cyclic (benzene and cyclohexane) and chlorinated compounds (trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and chloroform) with the surfaces are mainly dispersive over all the carbons tested, CNTs being the material with the highest dispersive contribution, as was deduced also from the entropy parameter. Adsorption parameters were correlated with morphological and chemical properties of the materials.