Nanosized Carbamoylethylated Cellulose as Novel Precursor for Preparation of Metal Nanoparticles

Current work has three-fold objective: (a) to augment the dispersability of cellulose nanowhiskers (CNW) through carbamoylethylation; (b) to make use of nano-carbamoylethyl cellulose (NCEC) as precursors for preparation of metal nanoparticles and, (c) to apply the so obtained metal nanoparticles in production of smart conductive textiles. To achieve the goal, CNW was reacted with acrylamide to yield NCEC having D.S. of 0.8 and a size of ca 37 nm. NCEC is more thermally stable than CNW. NCEC lost completely its crystalline structure, that is, NCEC is a polymeric material without crystalline domains. Beside its solubility in water and its polymeric nature, NCEC bears terminal carbamoylethyl and carboxyethyl groups along with its cellulosic backbone. These properties would advocate NCEC to function a dual role: reducing and stabilizing agent during the synthesis of metal nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were produced in spherical shape with small sizes as signified by UV-vis spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) with extremely high stability upto concentration as high as 2000 ppm. Therefore, AgNPs was employed successfully as highly functional, effective and adequate precursor for synthesis of smart conductive fabrics.