Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a preferred nanocellulosic precursor due to its several advantages over plant-derived cellulose such as high crystallinity, 100% purity, high porosity, great mechanical properties with in situ manipulability. In its natural form, BC is a hydrogel, which implies high porosity and water holding capacity however to enable its use for engineering applications, water needs to be removed. The physical properties of BC such as morphology, porosity, and mechanical strength are vastly affected by the drying method employed which would ultimately affect the carbon obtained on pyrolysis of BC. This work presents a case study in which we produced BC through bacterial fermentation process using two different strains, followed by systematically studying the effect of drying (oven and freeze drying) on physio-chemical, morphological, and structural properties of as-produced bacterial cellulose using FTIR, XRD, FESEM, BET surface area, and tensile testing. Oven-dried BC showed higher crystallinity, reduced fiber diameter, narrow size distribution and higher mechanical properties as compared to freeze-dried bacterial cellulose. Finally, we successfully demonstrate the utilization of pyrolysed BC for production of functional anode materials for lithium ion batteries. The variation in the drying of BC has ultimately led to an 30% variation in the reversible capacities of lithium ion batteries. This presentation will focus on our understanding as developed about the selection of a particular drying method of BC for particular application by, weighing the gain in property vs. an increase in the amount of time and energy expenditure.

Tuning the physio-electro-chemical properties of bacterial cellulose derived carbon nanofibers: Effect of drying conditions on electrochemical properties

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.