Cellulose/CaCO3 nanocomposites: microwave ionic liquid synthesis, characterization, and biological activity.

The purposes of this article are to synthesize the biomass-based hybrid nanocomposites using green method in green solvent and evaluate its biological activity. In this paper, microwave-assisted ionic liquid method is applied to the preparation of cellulose/CaCO(3) hybrid nanocomposites in the alkali extraction cellulose using CaCl(2) and Na(2)CO(3) as starting reactants. The ionic liquid acts as the excellent solvent for absorbing microwave and the dissolution of cellulose, and the synthesis of cellulose/CaCO(3) nanocomposites. The influences of reaction parameters such as the cellulose concentration and the types of solvent on the products were investigated. The increasing cellulose concentration favored the growth of CaCO(3). The morphologies of CaCO(3) changed from polyhedral to cube to particle with increasing cellulose concentration. Moreover, the solvents had an effect on the shape and dispersion of CaCO(3). Cytotoxicity experiments demonstrated that the cellulose/CaCO(3) nanocomposites had good biocompatibility and could be a candidate for the biomedical applications.