Synthesis and characterization of carboxylate waterborne cellulose emulsion based on cellulose acetate

With cellulose acetate (CA) as a base material, a novel environmentally friendly carboxylate waterborne cellulose acetate (CWCA) emulsion was synthesized via the method of self-emulsification. Taking advantage of acrylic acid, hydroxyethyl acrylate as a modifier, and isophorone diisocyanate as a bridging agent, the molecular structural design of CWCA dispersion was completed successfully, and the structure was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In this work, the particle size and distribution of the stable CWCA dispersion with solid content of 22.6% are 115.6 and 0.158 nm, respectively. It was found that the microstructure of emulsion particles is a core-shell structure containing a hydrophilic carboxylate group as the shell and hydrophobic cellulose acetate molecular as the core. In addition, the hydrophobic behavior of CWCA film is presented as a contact angle of 109.9°. Furthermore, CWCA film provided a higher thermal decomposition temperature of 345.42 °C than that of CA film at the largest mass loss rate.