Effect of prolonged precipitation on morphology and crystal struture of the bacterial nanocelulose/Fe3O4 composite

Abstract

Cellulose is a biopolymer with a wide range of properties like biocompatibility, hydrophilicity, porosity, good mechanical properties, biodegradability and non-toxicity. The properties and application of cellulose based materials are related to the source of the cellulose production. Despite the fact that the plant cellulose is playing a leading role in obtaining cellulose fibers, it has been found that ecologically and economically, a better source for obtaining cellulose is by fermenting a particular strain of bacteria. Although bacterial nano cellulose (BCN) based materials can be used in numerous industries, from the paper and food industries to biomedicine, their application in electronics is limited because bacterial cellulose does not have conductive and ferromagnetic properties. Having this in mind in this research, the results of the development of nanocomposite materials based on BCN modified with Fe3O4 has been presented. The differences in the interaction of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and BCN obtained by varying precipitation parameters were investigated and the effect of reaction time was followed by SEM-EDS, XRD, and FTIR analysis. It has been found that this type of modifications of the initial BCN, enables development of new composite materials with superior properties, which can be used in various fields of electronics.