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Synthesis and characterization of agarose–bacterial cellulose biodegradable composites

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Abstract

Agarose is an abundant and biodegradable polymer with strength comparable or higher than other commonly used natural polymers. Agarose can be used for wound dressing and tissue engineering applications. Excessive water uptake and moderate strength limit its applicability for various applications. The objective of this study was to enhance its strength by reinforcing with bacterial cellulose. The addition of bacterial cellulose exhibited remarkable enhancement of 140% in the tensile strength of agarose bioplastic. The strength increased from 25.1 MPa for agarose bioplastic to a maximum of 60.2 MPa for 20% (w/w) of bacterial cellulose. There was a decrease in the amount of water absorption; at 37 °C, the composite films absorbed 450% of their own weight of water, as against 700% absorption by un-reinforced bioplastic films at the same temperature. Thermogravimetric analysis did not reveal any perceivable change in the thermal stability of the bioplastic. Biodegradability of composite films was also established.

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Abbreviations

UTS:

Ultimate tensile strength

HBC:

Homogenized bacterial cellulose

TGA:

Thermogravimetric analysis

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Jeffrey M. Catchmark of the Pennsylvania State University for kindly providing A. xylinum bacteria. The research was supported by DST-SERB (SR/S3/CE/038/2012) and DBT (BT/PR14121/BRB/10/813/201). We thank Prof. M. L. N. Rao of Chemistry department at IIT Kanpur for discussion on FTIR data. Laser cutting was done at 4i laboratories, mechanical testing was performed at Structures laboratory in Aerospace Engineering department of IIT Kanpur, scanning electron microscopy was conducted in Materials Science and Engineering department of IIT Kanpur, and thermogravimetric analysis was performed in Chemical Engineering department of IIT Kanpur. Mr. Sankalp Verma and Ms. Suboohi Shervani aided in the scanning electron microscopy of the samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India

    Ankur Awadhiya

  2. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India

    David Kumar

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India

    Kalpana Rathore, Bushara Fatma & Vivek Verma

  4. Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India

    Vivek Verma

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  1. Ankur Awadhiya
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  4. Bushara Fatma
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  5. Vivek Verma
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Correspondence to Vivek Verma.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare competing financial interest. AA and VV have filed for an Indian patent with Application Number 906/DEL/2015 dated March 31, 2015 and an international patent with Application Number PCT/IB2015/053216 on May 02, 2015. The work demonstrated here is part of the patent.

Funding

AA and DK are supported by institute fellowship from IIT Kanpur. This work was supported through DST-SERB (SR/S3/CE/038/2012) and DBT (BT/PR14121/BRB/10/813/201) Grants.

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Awadhiya, A., Kumar, D., Rathore, K. et al. Synthesis and characterization of agarose–bacterial cellulose biodegradable composites. Polym. Bull. 74, 2887–2903 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-016-1872-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-016-1872-3

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