Synthesis and Characterization of a Novel Maize Cob Based Nanocellulose

Nanocellulose is a renewable nanomaterial that has received a lot of attention due to its use in a variety of applications from the biomedical field to food packaging. In this study, Nano cellulose (NC) was extracted from Maize cob, using the Acid hydrolysis process. The extracted NC was characterized using Particle Size Analyzer (PSA) for particle size, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) for functional groups, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) for getting the morphology of NC and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) for crystallinity analysis. The result showed that, the synthesized NC with a particle size of 213.5nm and zeta potential of -34.5mV. The FT-IR analysis showed that the functional groups stretched at C-O, C=O, and S=O with a wavenumber of 1216cm-1, and 1737cm-1,1365cm-1 in NC. XRD analysis shows a peak around 2θ = 15.80, 22.03, 26.69, 40.44 which shows the structure of cellulose. SEM and TEM images of the extraction process of NC show the morphological and structural information of cellulose and Nanocellulose.