The Effect of Water on Rheology of Native Cellulose/Ionic Liquids Solutions

Cellulose coagulates upon adding water to its solutions in ionic liquids. Although cellulose remains in solution with much higher water contents, here we report the effect of 0-3 wt % water on solution rheology of cellulose in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, and polarized light microscopy were also used to study water absorbance to the solutions. Tiny amounts of water (0.25 wt %) can significantly affect the rheological properties of the solutions, imparting a yield stress, while dry solutions appear to be ordinary viscoelastic liquids. The yield stress grows linearly with water content and saturates at a level that increases with the square of cellulose content. Annealing the solutions containing small amounts of water at 80 °C for 20 min transforms the samples to the fully dissolved "dry" state.