Date Palm Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNCs)/Polyamide Composites: Tailoring Morphological, Mechanical, and Thermal Properties

In the present study, polyamide (PA) was successfully reinforced with cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) prepared from date palm leaves using two different techniques, electrospinning and the solution casting method, and a comparative study of these two systems was performed. The morphological, thermal, wetting, and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were analyzed for CNC content between 0 and 5 wt%. Morphological analyses showed different roughness in the fractured surface of neat PA and its nanocomposites after the addition of CNC. The modified composite is found to have a smooth surface without cracks and showed increased roughness with greater hydrophilicity and thermal stability. The nano-indentation results showed that the highest hardness was obtained at 5% CNC loading for the solution cast composite samples, which could be related to the relatively good CNC dispersion with good filler matrix bonding as evidenced by the morphological characterization. We also observed that the electrospinning technique produced nanocomposites of better thermo-physical properties than the solution cast method. The results point to the prospect of the development of nanocomposite films using date-palm-leaf-derived CNC incorporated in PA for high-performance and advanced material applications such as membranes.