Isolation and characterization of cellulose nanofibers from the aquatic weed water hyacinth—Eichhornia crassipes

The cellulose nanofibers from the water blocking aquatic weed—water hyacinth was successfully prepared. The crude and pure cellulose microfibers were initially obtained from the weed plant by following chemical treatments such as bleaching, alkaline and sodium chlorite reactions. The micron-sized fibers obtained from the stems were cryocrushed with liquid nitrogen to release the bundles of nanofibers and followed the sonication for individualization of fibers. The treated fibers were screened through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to confirm the removal of impurities from the fibers. The surface morphology of the aqueous suspension before cryocrushing and after the sonication process was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thermal stability of the fiber was increased after chemical treatment; this was confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The synthesized nanofibers were in the diameter range of 20–100 nm from the SEM and 25 nm from the TEM analysis.