Cellulose acetate (CA), one of the most important cellulose derivatives, is used in various applications especially in membranes, films, fibers, filters, and polymers. Because of the tough and flexible character and resistance to acids of CA, bacterial cellulose acetate (BCA) has been used as reinforcement for high performance separator purposes. In this study, BCA was synthesized through the heterogeneous acetylation in acetic solution with H2SO4 as catalyst by solution plasma process (SPP) of bacterial cellulose (BC) extracted form nata de coco waste. The SPP was considered as mild, simple, and fast method for many kinds of synthesis. The solution plasma time was studied to obtain considerably high DS values (in this work, DS = 1.95). The high DS values are an important feature when considering an environmental factor, good liquid transport and excellent absorption. Furthermore, the BCA incorporated with poly ether block amide by electrospinning method is successfully fabricated as nanofibrous membranes. The proposed PEBAX/BCA nanofibrous membranes display superior sufficient porosity (74.7%), exceptional liquid electrolyte uptake (364.6%), sufficient thermal dimensional stability at 150 °C, great electrochemical stability (discharge capacity at 0.2C = 102.14 mAh g-1), and high ionic conductivity (9.12 × 10-3 S/cm). Furthermore, the PEBAX/BCA nanofibrous membranes can be used as high-performance separators enhancing its safety for Li-ion battery applications.
Keywords: Acetylation; Bacterial cellulose acetate; Cellulose derivative; LIB separator; Solution plasma process.
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