Strong Cellulose Fibres Manufactured using
Chemically Tailored Ionic Liquids
Jyoti Bhardwaj1, Olga Kuzmina2, Kevin D Potter1, Sameer S Rahatekar1, Tom
Welton2
1University
of Bristol, 2Imperial College London
This project aims to carry out a systematic study of the influence of the cation’s and anion’s structure of the
superbase ionic liquids (Fig. 2) to improve the dissolution of cellulose, fibre spinning process and the
resulting fibre’s mechanical properties avoiding the known drawbacks. Acetate and diethylphosphate ILs
were successfully able to dissolve cellulose to produce concentrated spinning solutions (dissolution time
from 2.5 to 4 hours and temperature between 60-95 °C, cellulose concentration 4%).
Bio-Economy for Composites Manufacturing
Extruder
Winding unit
Bio
Economy
Coagulation bath
Biomass from Forest & Agriculture
Strong Fibres
Manufactured from Biomass
What are Ionic liquids ?
Common Salt
Sustainable Composites
Types of Ionic liquids Currently Used
Ionic liquid (asymmetric cation)
BMIm Cl MP 80˚C
NaCl MP 803˚C
An ionic liquid is a salt which can be liquid below 1000 C or even
at room temp. The cation in ionic liquids is asymmetric which
causes poor bonding with its anion resulting in low attraction
between them and hence low melting point.
Ionic liquids are effective & benign solvents to dissolve
cellulose, silk and range of natural bio polymer fibres.
Fibre Cross-section
Mechanical Properties
Of Cellulose Fibres
Ionic Liquid used for Fibre Spinning
Young’s
Modulus
Tensile
Strength
1,5-Diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5eniumacetate
4.6 (±1.1)
78.9 (±9.0)
1-Ethyl - 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec7-enium diethyl phosphate
5.3 (±0.8)
81 (±8.5)
1-Ethyl -1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5enium diethyl phosphate
7.5 (±1.4)
97.3
(±21.6)
1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium diethyl
phosphate
20 (±2.3)
281.5
(±30.5)
300
250
Stress
200
150
100
50
0
0
0.05
0.1
Strain
www.bristol.ac.uk/composites