Isolation and Characterization of Muntingia Calabura Cellulose Nanofibers

Bio-nanocomposite attracts a lot of attention in composite studies and in this article is observed the composite with cellulose nanofiber (CNF) reinforcement. Several types of potential fiber as reinforcement have been published and there is one type of interesting fiber due to its large population, namely Muntingia calabura, which is considered as agricultural waste. Muntingia stems also have the characteristics of being easy to dry, elastic, and soft which are potential to be used as a composite. In order to have high fiber performance, the manufacture of cellulose nanofibers needs to be analyzed for their characteristics. The characteristics of Muntingia fiber were enhanced by applying the chemical treatment using 8% of NaOH and 0.5% of NaClO. Next, mechanical treatment using an ultra-fine-friction grinder was performed to derive the CNF from the fiber. The chemical treatment roughened the fiber surface and decreased the impurities, lignin, and hemicellulose in the fiber. It was proven by the lignin bond chain (C-C) with the smallest intensity of 31.03% and the surface morphology was observed through SEM. The highest crystallinity index of Muntingia fiber was obtained from bleaching-treated Muntingia of 83.29%, affecting the percentage of total fiber weight lost by 28.75%. The lower the percentage of fiber weight loss, the higher the thermal resistance. This study showed that Muntingia fiber is potential to be used as one of the alternative fibers for bio-nano composite.