The goal of this study is to understand the role of water in native cellulose crystal assembly. Never dried cotton, and never dried bacterial cellulose with and without added xyloglucan and pectin, are examined under the influence of dehydration and rehydration. The crystal size of bacterial cellulose and cotton become smaller during dehydration. Dramatic increases in crystal size with water content changing from 20% to 40% is only observed for bacterial cellulose samples. We hypothesize that this may arise from the presence of water facilitating co-crystallization of elementary cellulose microfibrils, which separate during dehydration. The presence of a matrix polymer such as xyloglucan or pectin around the bacterial cellulose can significantly reduce the mobility of the bulk water, but not interfere with the crystal structure change.

Structure characterization of native cellulose during dehydration

247th National Meeting (2014)

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