ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Sivasubramaniyan Manickam, Sivasubramani Kandasamy, Uma Chinnaiyan, Mathan Chandrasekaran and Sivagurunathan Paramasivam
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Annamalai University, Chidambaram 608002, Tamil Nadu, India.
Article Number: 10986 | © The Author(s). 2026
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2026;20(1):280-288. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.20.1.13
Received: 23 September 2025 | Accepted: 26 December 2025 | Published online: 30 January 2026
Issue online: March 2026
Abstract

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were extracted from the red macroalga Gracilaria edulis through sequential chemical treatments involving alkalization, bleaching, and acid hydrolysis. The progressive removal of non-cellulosic components resulted in a milky white, gel-like CNC suspension, indicating successful isolation. The structural and morphological properties of the obtained CNCs were examined using FTIR, SEM, and XRD techniques. FTIR spectra confirmed the presence of characteristic cellulose functional groups, including O-H, C-H, and C-O-C vibrations, demonstrating the effective purification of cellulose. SEM analysis revealed a clear transformation from aggregated fibrous structures to well-defined platelet-like nanocrystals at higher magnifications (up to 30,000X), confirming nanoscale morphology. XRD patterns exhibited prominent diffraction peaks corresponding to cellulose I, with a high crystallinity index of 91.3%, indicating efficient removal of amorphous regions during acid hydrolysis. Overall, the findings demonstrate that Gracilaria edulis is a promising and sustainable marine resource for producing highly crystalline cellulose nanocrystals suitable for advanced material applications.

Keywords

Gracilaria edulis, Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNC), Seaweed, Acid Hydrolysis, Characterization

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© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.