Preparation and Characterization of Bacterial Nanocellulose-Based Composite Membranes

Abstract

This study has been carried out to design environment friendly membranes prepared by an immersion method with bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) as a template, and chitosan (Ch) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as functional entities for high bacteriostasis and hydrophilicity, respectively. The BNC-Ch0.5-PVA membranes have more pronounced pores and looser three-dimensional structure than those of BNC, and the surfaces of the composites prepared with more Ch obviously became flatter and denser, observed using a scanning electron microscope. The Young's modulus and tensile strength of wet composite membranes decreased following Ch and PVA incorporation. Lower thermal stability and crystallinity index of composite membranes were observed than those of BNC. The composite BNC-Ch0.5-PVA2 membranes possessed much better hydrophilicity than pure BNC. The composites exhibited noteworthy antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus compared to pure BNC which has no antibacterial ability. These results indicate that BNC-based composite membranes show excellent performance, especially a remarkable swelling capacity and bacteriostatic ability, and are claimed to be effective in various applications such as medical treatment as a wound dressing.