Celluloses (Cell) with diverse physicochemical characteristics (crystallinity, molecular weights and polidispersity) were obtained from algae residues from a Mexican agar industry. The continuous solid-liquid reaction/extraction system used showed to be quick and efficient allowed obtaining yields of up 74% [calculated on the basis of glucose amount (58.1%) in the residues]1. All celluloses obtained with this system were used to produce porous films via the breath figure technique using CS2 as solvent. Commercial microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and cellulose acetate were also used in this study. The celluloses were used either pure or mixed with polystyrene (PS) to a final concentration of 10 mg/mL. Furthermore, PS and MCC were co-polymerized by free radical polymerization and the copolymer was also used to prepare porous films from CS2. The deposits were performed in glass surfaces at 95% RH and the membranes were characterized with optical microscopy (OM), SEM, fluorescence microscopy and contact angle measurements. The films obtained with the pure celluloses showed pores of various sizes devoid of order, while the ones from PS-cellulose mixtures had areas with hexagonal arrays of pores and different levels of structure. The films from the copolymer showed a highly structured hexagonal array. According to the fluorescence microscopy images for the PS-cellulose mixtures and the copolymer, cellulose was scattered without any preferential ordering for either the surface or the interior of the pores. Compared to non-porous films, an increase in the contact angle was observed for all the porous films. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of the use of non-functionalized cellulose to produce porous films.1. L�pez-Simeon, R.; Campos-Ter�n, J; Beltr�n, H. I.; Hern�ndez-Guerrero, M. Free-lignin cellulose obtained from agar industry residues using a continuous and minimal solvent reaction/extraction methodology. RSC Advances, 2012 . DOI: 10.1039/c2ra22185c.

Honeycomb porous films obtained with cellulose extracted from agar residues

247th National Meeting (2014)

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