Chitosan blended bacterial cellulose as a smart material for biomedical application

초록

Bacterial cellulose and chitosan blends have been successfully prepared by immersing wet bacterial cellulose pellicle in chitosan solution followed by freeze-drying. By changing chitosan concentration and immersion time, the chitosan content in the blends is ranged from 12% to 45%. The products look like a foam structure. SEM images show that chitosan molecules can penetrate into bacterial cellulose forming multilayer structure. The foam has very well interconnected porous network structure and large aspect surface. By incorporation of chitosan in bacterial cellulose, XRD patterns indicate that crystalline structure does not change but crystallinity decreases from 82% to 61% with chitosan content increasing from 12% to 45%. According to TGA results, the thermal stability has been improved. At the same time, the mechanical properties of bacterial cellulose and chitosan blends are good enough for potential biomedical application such as tissue engineering scaffold and would dressing material. © 2009 SPIE.