X-Ray Studies of the Structure of Salts Adsorbed on Cellulose

Abstract

THE ability of cellulose to take up salts from aqueous solutions and retain them upon drying is well known, but little has been shown as to the condition in which they are retained. The following possibilities which might be distinguished by X-ray analysis are suggested: (1) a mechanical holding, in which both cellulose and the salt retain their original structure; (2) a reaction forming a new structural arrangement; (3) a molecular or ionic dispersion of the salt throughout the cellulose units, the cellulose being structurally unchanged. It has just come to our attention that Ruff, Ebert, and Luft (Z. anorg. allgem. Chem., 170, 49; 1928), in an X-ray study of salts adsorbed on activated carbon, found in the majority of cases no evidence of the presence of the salts in their crystalline state. This observation would correspond to the third possibility.