Abstract
The present study aims to improve the hydrophobicity and durability of bacterial cellulose (BC) nonwoven by functionalization with poly(fluorophenol). To this end, laccase was first entrapped onto BC and then used to polymerize the fluorophenol {4-[4-(trifluoromethyl) phenoxy] phenol} in-situ. The polymerization of fluorophenol by laccase was confirmed through 1H NMR and MALDI-TOF analyses. The effect of poly(fluorophenol) on BC nonwoven was determined by evaluation of the surface hydrophobicity and olephobicity properties such as water contact angle (WCA), oil contact angle (OCA), surface energy and water/oil absorption time. After BC functionalization with poly(fluorophenol) (20 mM), the WCA increased from 54.5 ± 1.2° to 120 ± 1.5° while the surface energy decreased (11.58 ± 1.4 mN/m). The OCA was also increased from 46.5 ± 2.5° to 87 ± 2° along to the decrease of surface energy (8.7 ± 1.5°). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirmed an increase in the fluorine content in BC from 5.27 to 17.57%. The findings confirmed the polymerization of fluorophenol by laccase and its entrapment onto a BC nanofiber structure. The durability of the functionalization with poly(fluorophenol) was confirmed by evaluating the washing fastness, tensile strength after washing and dimensional stability. The results indicate that the functionalized BC nonwoven had higher tensile strength (×10 times) and better dimensional stability (30%) than the non-functionalized BC nonwoven material.
Highlights
Bacterial cellulose (BC) is composed of nanofibrilar structure that efficiently self-assemble and form a nanofibre network of 10–100 nm in diameter
The fluorine molecules were converted into hydrophobic groups, which were entrapped into the BC nonwoven structure (Marie et al, 2004; Kudanga et al, 2010b; Wu et al, 2016)
After BC nonwoven was treated by only laccase (Table 1B), the water contact angle was slightly increased (72.5 ± 1.5◦)
Summary
Bacterial cellulose (BC) is composed of nanofibrilar structure that efficiently self-assemble and form a nanofibre network of 10–100 nm in diameter. This material possess high purity, high degree of polymerization, crystallinity, and high water holding capacity (Lee, 2011; Ashjaran et al, 2012; Llanos, 2012; Fernanda et al, 2017; Song et al, 2017; Yim et al, 2017; Nam and Lee, 2019). There are several drawbacks of the hydrophilicity of BC nonwoven: this property, along with high moisture uptake, can cause dehydration and poor durability.
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