Saadi M A S R, Cui Yufei, Bhakta Shyam P, Hassan Sakib, Harikrishnan Vijay, Siqueira Ivan R, Pasquali Matteo, Bennett Matthew, Ajayan Pulickel M, Rahman Muhammad M
Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 1;16(1):5825. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60242-1.
Bacterial cellulose is a promising biodegradable alternative to synthetic polymers due to the robust mechanical properties of its nano-fibrillar building blocks. However, its full potential of mechanical properties remains unrealized, primarily due to the challenge of aligning nanofibrils at the macroscale. Additionally, the limited diffusion of other nano-fillers within the three-dimensional nanofibrillar network impedes the development of multifunctional bacterial cellulose-based nanosheets. Here, we report a simple, single-step, and scalable bottom-up strategy to biosynthesize robust bacterial cellulose sheets with aligned nanofibrils and bacterial cellulose-based multifunctional hybrid nanosheets using shear forces from fluid flow in a rotational culture device. The resulting bacterial cellulose sheets display high tensile strength (up to ~ 436 MPa), flexibility, foldability, optical transparency, and long-term mechanical stability. By incorporating boron nitride nanosheets into the liquid nutrient media, we fabricate bacterial cellulose-boron nitride hybrid nanosheets with even better mechanical properties (tensile strength up to ~ 553 MPa) and thermal properties (three times faster rate of heat dissipation compared to control samples). This biofabrication approach yielding aligned, strong, and multifunctional bacterial cellulose sheets would pave the way towards applications in structural materials, thermal management, packaging, textiles, green electronics, and energy storage.
由于细菌纤维素的纳米纤维构建块具有强大的机械性能，它是一种很有前景的可生物降解的合成聚合物替代品。然而，其机械性能的全部潜力尚未实现，主要是由于在宏观尺度上排列纳米纤维存在挑战。此外，其他纳米填料在三维纳米纤维网络中的有限扩散阻碍了多功能细菌纤维素基纳米片的发展。在这里，我们报告了一种简单、单步且可扩展的自下而上的策略，通过旋转培养装置中流体流动产生的剪切力，生物合成具有排列纳米纤维的坚固细菌纤维素片以及细菌纤维素基多功能混合纳米片。所得的细菌纤维素片具有高拉伸强度（高达约436兆帕）、柔韧性、可折叠性、光学透明度和长期机械稳定性。通过将氮化硼纳米片掺入液体营养培养基中，我们制备出了具有更好机械性能（拉伸强度高达约553兆帕）和热性能（与对照样品相比散热速率快三倍）的细菌纤维素 - 氮化硼混合纳米片。这种生物制造方法生产出排列整齐、坚固且多功能的细菌纤维素片，将为结构材料、热管理、包装、纺织品、绿色电子和能量存储等应用铺平道路。
