Rizal Samsul, Yahya Esam Bashir, Abdul Khalil H P S, Abdullah C K, Marwan Marwan, Ikramullah Ikramullah, Muksin Umar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh 23111, Indonesia.
School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia.
Gels. 2021 Dec 2;7(4):246. doi: 10.3390/gels7040246.
Biopolymer-based aerogels are open three-dimensional porous materials that are characterized by outstanding properties, such as a low density, high porosity and high surface area, in addition to their biocompatibility and non-cytotoxicity. Here we fabricated pure and binary blended aerogels from cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) and chitosan (CS), using a chemical-free approach that consists of high-pressure homogenization and freeze-drying. The prepared aerogels showed a different porosity and density, depending on the material and mixing ratio. The porosity and density of the aerogels ranged from 99.1 to 90.8% and from 0.0081 to 0.141 g/cm, respectively. Pure CNFs aerogel had the highest porosity and lightest density, but it showed poor mechanical properties and a high water absorption capacity. Mixing CS with CNFs significantly enhance the mechanical properties and reduce its water uptake. The two investigated ratios of aerogel blends had superior mechanical and thermal properties over the single-material aerogels, in addition to reduced water uptake and 2-log antibacterial activity. This green fabrication and chemical-free approach could have great potential in the preparation of biopolymeric scaffolds for different biomedical applications, such as tissue-engineering scaffolds.
基于生物聚合物的气凝胶是开放的三维多孔材料，除了具有生物相容性和无细胞毒性外，还具有低密度、高孔隙率和高比表面积等优异特性。在此，我们采用由高压均质化和冷冻干燥组成的无化学方法，从纤维素纳米纤维（CNF）和壳聚糖（CS）制备了纯气凝胶和二元混合气凝胶。根据材料和混合比例的不同，所制备的气凝胶表现出不同的孔隙率和密度。气凝胶的孔隙率和密度分别在99.1%至90.8%以及0.0081至0.141 g/cm之间。纯CNF气凝胶具有最高的孔隙率和最轻的密度，但机械性能较差且吸水性高。将CS与CNF混合可显著提高机械性能并降低其吸水率。所研究的两种气凝胶混合物比例除了具有降低的吸水率和2-log抗菌活性外，还比单材料气凝胶具有更优异的机械和热性能。这种绿色制造和无化学方法在制备用于不同生物医学应用（如组织工程支架）的生物聚合物支架方面可能具有巨大潜力。
