Abstract
A series of bacterial cellulose-poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) nanocomposite films was prepared by in situ radical polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), using variable amounts of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) as cross-linker. Thin films were obtained, and their physical, chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties were evaluated. The films showed improved translucency compared to BC and enhanced thermal stability and mechanical performance when compared to poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA). Finally, BC/PHEMA nanocomposites proved to be nontoxic to human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) and thus are pointed as potential dry dressings for biomedical applications.
Highlights
Cellulose, the most abundant natural polymer, possesses unique properties and advantages [1,2,3,4], which have been widely explored for centuries, especially for paper making and for textile materials
A series of Bacterial cellulose (BC)/poly(2hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) nanocomposite films was prepared by varying the amounts of monomer (HEMA) and crosslinker (PEGDA) impregnated into the BC membranes prior to the polymerization step (Table 1)
As expected all nanocomposites showed lower storage moduli than that of neat BC because PHEMA matrices are amorphous and less rigid than the BC membrane which is a highly crystalline material. These results clearly indicate that a set of BC/PHEMA nanocomposite films with distinct mechanical performances can be designed by varying the BC/PHEMA percentage contents as well as the percentage of crosslinker
Summary
The most abundant natural polymer, possesses unique properties and advantages [1,2,3,4], which have been widely explored for centuries, especially for paper making and for textile materials. BC/polymer nanocomposites have been prepared by simple blending of BC nanofibrils with several polymeric matrices [22,23,24,25,26,27] or by in situ polymerization of monomers within the cellulose network [16, 28,29,30,31,32]. The latter approach is straightforward because the properties of the nanocomposites can be tailored by adjusting the ratio of monomer/BC, the type and functionalities of the monomers, degree of cross-linking, and so forth. A limited number of monomers with acrylic/methacrylic moieties, such as glycerol monomethacrylate (GMMA) [16], 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) [16, 31], 2-ethoxyethyl methacrylate (EOEMA) [16], acrylamide [28, 30], acrylic acid
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