Novel Cellulose Nanospheres With Tunable Sizes Prepared From Nitrocellulose Through Nanoprecipitation

The resourceful utilization of nitrocellulose (NC) is an attractive issue, and the development of cellulose nanospheres (CNS) with controllable sizes is also a challenging work. In this study, the nanoprecipitation of an NC acetone solution against aqueous NaHS solution was carried out, in which denitration of NC occurred simultaneously, fabricating a class of novel CNS with narrow size distributions. The sizes of the obtained CNS could be modulated from about 20 to over 100 nm by changing the processing parameters such as the initial NC concentration in the acetone solution as well as the NaHS concentration, dripping rate, and volume fraction of the aqueous NaHS solution. The transformation of NC to cellulose was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) characterizations as well as the insolubility of the resultant in acetone. This manuscript not only provides a feasible solution for the resourceful utilization of NC but also proposes an effective preparation strategy of CNS with tunable sizes. More importantly, the conversion of NC to nonhazardous advanced materials was realized, in line with the ethos of environmental sustainability.