Electric and Spectral Properties of Solid Water-Nanocellulose Systems in a Wide Range of Temperatures

We report gravimetric, electric, and spectral properties of the solid-state water-nanocellulose systems with different water content. The systems with the nanocellulose content of 0.15, 0.3, 0.6, 96.6, and 97.3% undergo dielectric relaxation at temperatures between −100 and 0 °C, whose nature differs from that of the dielectric relaxation in pure water. The relaxation process in water-nanocellulose systems was found to be due to the dipole thermal polarization. This process is determined by the behavior of the surface layers of the nanocrystals, surrounded by the hydrated shell; its mechanism is due to the conformational motion of the methylol groups on the surface of the nanocellulose crystals.