Antimony(III) oxide film on a cellulose fiber surface: Preparation and characterization of the composite

Cellulose/antimony(III) oxide composites, Cel/Sb2O3, with oxide loadings of 1.7, 5.4, and 9.2 wt% were prepared by reacting the precursor SbCl3 reagent with cellulose in dry ethanol solution, The reaction of the Lewis acid and the cellulose fibers occurred at the amorphous domains of the biopolymer, increasing the crystallinity degree of the composite compared with that of the untreated cellulose. The scanning electron microscopy images and metal mapping for all samples showed that the oxide film layer uniformly covered the fiber surfaces with no detectable agglomerates of the oxide particles. The synchrotron X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the antimony oxide film was obtained as a crystalline phase with orthorombic structure. The atomic ratios of O/Sb, determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, indicated that, for Cel/Sb2O3 samples with 9.3 wt% loading, the fiber surface is nearly saturated by the oxide layer. The thermal stability of Cel/Sb2O3 compared to that of untreated cellulose is practically unaffected. (C) 2000 Academic Press.