The Effect of the Addition of Lactic Acid as a Modifier to the Morphology and Thermal Properties of Cellulose Nano Fiber Paper

This study discusses on an attempt to create a transparent conductive paper made by a facile process and environmentally friendly cellulose-based sorghum as a substitute for glass coating in the display industry that has the advantage of being able to be formed and folded. Sorghum stems with a relatively high cellulose content of around 40% make it a potential material to be used as a conductive transparent paper. The isolation of microfibrillated cellulose from sorghum stem waste using chemicals and sonication methods to obtain cellulose nanofibril (CNF) within a nanometer size range are discussed in this research. Furthermore, lactic acid (LA) as a modifier is added with varying concentrations to explore the effect of its addition on the processing of the transparent paper made from the CNF. Characterization in this study includes several aspects: to investigate the morphology of the CNF paper is carried out by scanning electron microscope. In addition, thermal strength for the product is analyzed using thermal gravimetric analysis. It is found that the CNF paper with 0.5 wt% of LA able to increase paper drying time while still able to maintain the morphology of the transparent paper.