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Cellulose nanocrystals are commonly obtained by acid hydrolysis, particularly with H

This study synthesized cellulose-g-poly(acrylic acid) with high water absorbency using the cellulose extracted from pineapple leaves. The synthesis experiment used a novel combination of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the cross-linker and the initiator, respectively. Experimental results showed that the concentrations of AIBN and EGDMA had significant effects on the structure and the water absorbency of the cross-linked materials. The cellulose-g-poly(acrylic acid) synthesized with 0.5 wt% AIBN and 0.5 wt% EGDMA had an excellent swelling capacity of 1900 g/g in distilled water, significantly larger than previously reported ones. Compared with poly(acrylic acid), the cross-linked product demonstrated an absorbency improvement of 1.65 times in distilled water and 1.27 times in 8.6 ppm NaCl solution that was the highest salinity level in Ben Tre, Vietnam, in March 2020. Therefore, the obtained product showed high potential for agricultural applications, especially in coastal regions facing a growing thread of saltwater intrusion.

The asymmetric chitosan membranes were developed for the guided tissue regeneration (GTR) by using the two-step phase separation in this study. The bicontinuous structure on the top layer would be formed due to the liquid–liquid demixing by non-solvent induction and the pore size was ranged from 0.5 to 2 μm. The interconnected cellular pores ranged from 80 to 120 μm on the bottom layer would be created by the formation of ice crystals. The membrane developed in this research possessed good biocompatibility, tissue integration, cell occlusivity and osteoconduction, which would last for at least 3 months. The chitosan membrane also successfully prevented the proliferation of bacterial, which was significantly superior to all the commercial GTR products for now. The asymmetric structure would be appropriate for the release of complex drugs with different effective periods. The results showed that the asymmetric chitosan GTR membranes prepared in this study are promising for the treatment of periodontal diseases.