Modulation of the Structures and Properties of Bacterial Cellulose Film by Fermentation Carbon Sources

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC), a natural pure cellulose synthesized by some bacteria, shows great potentials for wound dressing applications. In order to obtain suitable properties, different fermentation carbon sources, i.e. glucose, maltose and sucrose were used to synthesize BC films by static culture. The crystallinity and pore analysis was performed by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and nitrogen physisorption measurements, respectively. Some important properties of BC materials from different carbon sources were investigated, such as the mechanical strength, water holding capacity, water swelling ratio and water diffusion ability, which were key parameters for wound dressing applications. For comparison, the conventional cotton fiber was used as control. It was found that the carbon sources could change both the structures and properties of BC. The sucrose-derived BC exhibited lower crystallinity, but more suitable mechanical property, higher water holding capacity and water swelling ratio than other samples. All tested BC samples showed higher water holding capacity and water swelling ratio, but lower water diffusion property than the cotton fibers which were expected as good wound-healing biomedical materials.