In Situ Self-Assembled Nanocomposites from Bacterial Cellulose Reinforced with Eletrospun Poly(lactic acid)/Lipids Nanofibers
Date
2017-05-19
Authors
Acevedo, Nuria
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MDPI
Abstract
The goal of this study is to explore a new strategy to improve the mechanical and hydrophobic properties of bacterial cellulose (BC) mats. The present work is the first to report the preparation of in situ self-assembled BC nanocomposites using electrospun hydrophobic poly(lactic acid) (PLA) or PLA/lipids (PLA/Lip) nanofiber mats as foundation for BC nanofiber growth. Adding electrospun PLA mats to the BC culture media led to a two-fold increase in toughness with a 52% increase in elongation of the nanocomposites with regard to BC. The incorporation of electrospun PLA and PLA/Lip nanofiber mats lowered the moisture regain and water vapor transmission of BC nanocomposites relative to pure BC mats. The interfacial bonding between the individual components of a nanocomposite is a key factor for the improvement of composite strength, stiffness, and barrier properties; thus additional strategies to improve interaction between hydrophilic BC and hydrophobic PLA fibers need to be explored.
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This article is published as Xiang, C.; Acevedo, N.C. In Situ Self-Assembled Nanocomposites from Bacterial Cellulose Reinforced with Eletrospun Poly(lactic acid)/Lipids Nanofibers. Polymers 2017, 9, 179. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9050179. Posted with permission.
© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).