Immobilization of lecithin on bacterial cellulose nanofibers for improved biological functions

In an attempt to improve the biological behavior of pristine bacterial cellulose (BC), lecithin (LEC) has been immobilized on the surface of BC nanofibers by solution immersion and subsequent chemical crosslinking with proanthocyanidin (PA). The as-prepared LEC-immobilized BCs (denoted as BC/LECs) were characterized by SEM, FTIR, and XRD, and their dynamic mechanical properties, thermal stability, and hydrophilicity were assessed. The presence of LEC on BC surface was confirmed by SEM and FTIR analyses. It has been found that BC/LECs retain the three-dimensional (3D) porous network structure of pristine BC. The BC/LECs still demonstrate favorable mechanical properties, surface hydrophilicity, and thermal stability. More importantly, preliminary cell studies suggest that the BC/LECs show improved cell behavior over pristine BC. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.