TiO2 bonded SiO2-alkyl-NH2 grafted cellulose for improving thermal stability, mechanical strength characteristics, and water adsorption capacity

In this study, we have reported an investigation on the three steps preparation of TiO2@SiO2-alkyl-NH2 grafted cellulose, their characterization on the basis of Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis-differential scanning calorimetry ((TGA-DSC), scanning electron microscopy-X-ray energy dispersion (SEM-EDX), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analyses, and investigation of thermal stability, mechanical properties, and water adsorption capacity. According to the TGA analysis, the sample shows good and reasonable thermal stability and is stable up to 300 C-degrees. The DSC analysis shows that the decomposition of the sample could occur in two exothermic steps and one endothermic step. The grafted cellulose has 680.23 m(2)/g, 2.87 nm, and 0.681 cm(3)/g values for their specific surface area, pore diameter, and pore volume respectively which is higher than those of un-grafted ones. The mechanical properties of the grafted cellulose samples improved to higher values of 78.25 MPa, 3.71 GPa, and 102.36 MPa for flexural strength (FS), flexural modulus (FM), and compressive strength (CS) properties respectively. The water adsorption potential of TiO2@SiO2-alkyl-NH2 grafted cellulose is near 21% which is higher than the un-grafted sample (9%).