Preparation and Characterization of Water Hyacinth-Derived Cellulose Nanofibers for Fuel Cell Membrane application

Abstract Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) derived from biomass materials were used for various applications such as medicine, packaging, wastewater treatment, and fuel cells. In this study, CNF was synthesized from water hyacinth plants obtained from Laguna de Bay. Collected water hyacinth stems were cleaned, washed, air-dried, and oven-dried for fiber extraction. Chemical and mechanical treatments were used to extract the CNF from the water hyacinth. The fibers were treated with 4 % potassium hydroxide solution and homogenized at 25,000 rpm for 3 mins. The resulting CNF was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to investigate the microstructures and morphology. Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (AR-FTIR) was used to determine the chemical composition of the CNF. Lastly, crystallinity was examined by using an X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to ensure that the extraction of CNF was successful. The resulting properties of CNF ensure its potential when used as a pure material or added as a composite for the membrane of fuel cells.