Nano-sized fibrils dispersed from bacterial cellulose grafted with chitosan

Bacterial cellulose is an attractive material due to its outstanding biocompatibility, nanometer size and high purity, but the difficulty of dispersing has restricted its wide applications. In this study, chitosan was grafted onto bacterial cellulose by Schiff base reaction, and then obtained the nano-sized fibrils by ultrasonic dispersion process. Different concentrations of NaIO4 with various time and temperature were applied, and the maximum grafting amount of chitosan was 12.38%. The obtained products were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM and TEM. From the dispersibility and stability behavior research, the suspension containing chitosan was more uniform and showed better acid and temperature stability. It can also be observed in SEM and TEM images that the bacterial cellulose were dispersed into single ones and the diameter of the isolated fibril was 30-80 nm.