(193y) Bacterial Cellulose: Self-Assembly and Reformatting

‘’Bacterial cellulose is an exopolysaccharide produced by various species of bacteria, with Gluconacetobacter xylinus being the model organism to decipher the biosynthesis of cellulose. It has potential applications in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries due to its unique structure and mechanical property. The cellulose produced by bacteria is of high purity and crystallinity compared to those isolated from wood pulp due to the absence of lignin and hemicellulose. In this study, we examine the self-assembly mechanisms and microstructures of bacterial cellulose. Never-dried native bacterial cellulose produced from two Gluconacetobacter species are disintegrated into individual fibres through TEMPO-mediated oxidation and mechanical treatment, obtaining transparent and viscous suspension. Although the main oxidant is NaClO, we find that mechanical treatment (ultrasonication) plays an important role in the disintegration process of the bacterial cellulose. The morphology of the disintegrated fibrils are observed by SEM and the crystallinity of the disintegrated fibers are analysed by XRD. The organic functional group of the cellulose fibres as are characterized in dry state and wet condition by FTIR and RAMAN, respectively. The birefringence of the fibre suspension is also investigated under polarizing microscope. The oxidized cellulose fibres are expected to have physical interaction with metal ions. We will study this interaction in respect of forming conductive cellulose complexation. We further develop a method to synthesize bacterial cellulose hollow microparticles that are challenging to achieve using conventional method. The reformatted cellulose have been shown to improve wound healing“