Preparation of nano-sized particles from bacterial cellulose using ultrasonication and their characterization

Hairul Abral; Vincent Lawrensius; Dian Handayani; Eni Sugiarti

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.03.026

Preparation of nano-sized particles from bacterial cellulose using ultrasonication and their characterization

Carbohydr Polym. 2018 Jul 1:191:161-167. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.03.026. Epub 2018 Mar 14.

Authors

Hairul Abral¹, Vincent Lawrensius², Dian Handayani³, Eni Sugiarti⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Andalas University, 25163 Padang, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia. Electronic address: abral@ft.unand.ac.id.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Andalas University, 25163 Padang, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia.
³ Laboratory of Sumatran Biota, Faculty of Pharmacy, Andalas University, 25163 Padang, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia.
⁴ Laboratory of High-Temperature Coating, Research Center for Physics Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Serpong, Indonesia.

PMID: 29661304
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.03.026

Abstract

As more applications for nano-sized natural particles are discovered, simple, environmentally friendly ways to produce these particles become more important. This work prepares and characterizes nano-size bacterial cellulose particles using ultrasonication. Pellicle from nata de coco containing nanofibers was broken up in an electrical blender, then sonicated using an ultrasonic probe at 20 kHz and 3 W/mL for 30, 60 and 90 min. Transmission electron microscope observations indicate the particles become nano-sized after 60 min ultrasound. The maximum decomposition temperature before sonication was 373 °C, decreased to 357 °C after 60 min ultrasonication. Moisture absorption of the 90 min sonicated particles film is 60% slower compared to non-sonicated particles. After ultrasonication, the crystallinity index of the cellulose decreases. The functional groups of non-sonicated and sonicated cellulose remain the same. This study promotes a potential method of fabrication of nano-sized particles from pure bacterial cellulose.

Keywords: Bacterial cellulose; Moisture absorption; Nanoparticles; Thermal resistance; Ultrasonication duration.