Antibacterial Blend Films of Cellulose and Chitosan Prepared from Binary Ionic Liquid System

A new hybrid ionic liquids solvent, 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AMIMCl) and glycine hydrochloride (Gly center dot HCl) was utilized to dissolve chitosan and fabricate chitosan/cellulose (Cs/Ce) blend films with chitosan proportion varying from 2 to 35 wt.% through solution casting method. FTIR, XRD, TG, SEM and EA were used to evaluate the prepared composites. Besides, the mechanical property and antibacterial activity were also analyzed. The shifting of the characteristic peaks of -NH and C-O for chitosan, similar crystal pattern with low intensity diffraction peaks at 2 theta of around 20 degrees, superior thermal stability (increased Tonset) with chitosan ratio below 10 wt.% in the composites suggested that the interactions via hydrogen bonds formed between chitosan and cellulose. Besides, the elemental analysis showed that the actual N% contents from the chitosan in the blend films were roughly equivalent to the theoretical value though the inevitable residue of ionic liquids. Furthermore, the blends not only presented compact structure but also processed high bacterial reduction to E. coli and S. aureus at pH 6.3, which indicated that the Cs/Ce blend films prepared via the Gly center dot HCl/AMIMCl dissolution method were suitable for production of degradable antibacterial materials.