Preparation and characterization of starch /cellulose composite

Abstract

Novel preparative method for starch/cellulose composite in different ratios has been reported. The composite is obtained by mixing cellulose extracted from paper garbage and corn starch in PEG/NaOH solution. Starch/cellulose composite is characterized by different techniques, namely XRD, TGA and optical absorption measurements. From XRD data, it is observed that cellulose would lead to expand the d-spacing of (1ī0 plane and decrease the d-spacing of (110) plane of starch. The UV absorption peaks are shifted towards the longest wavelengths in the visible region for starch/cellulose composite. However, the refractive index value decreases from 1.44 to 1.08 and consequently the dielectric constant value decreases from 2.07 to 1.16 with increasing the starch ratio. Furthermore, the glass transition temperature increases from 107 °C for starch to 115 °C for starch/cellulose composite. However, the excess in starch ratio leads to increase in local crosslink density in the composite network.