Layer-by-Layer Assembled Bacterial Cellulose/Graphene Oxide Hydrogels with Extremely Enhanced Mechanical Properties

Honglin Luo, Jiaojiao Dong, Fanglian Yao, Zhiwei Yang, Wei Li, Jie Wang, Xinhua Xu, Jian Hu, Yizao Wan

Index: 10.1007/s40820-018-0195-3

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Abstract

Uniform dispersion of two-dimensional (2D) graphene materials in polymer matrices remains challenging. In this work, a novel layer-by-layer assembly strategy was developed to prepare a sophisticated nanostructure with highly dispersed 2D graphene oxide in a three-dimensional (3D) matrix consisting of one-dimensional (1D) bacterial cellulose (BC) nanofibers. This method is a breakthrough, with respect to the conventional static culture method for BC that involves multiple in situ layer-by-layer assembly steps at the interface between previously grown BC and the culture medium. In the as-prepared BC/GO nanocomposites, the GO nanosheets are mechanically bundled and chemically bonded with BC nanofibers via hydrogen bonding, forming an intriguing nanostructure. The sophisticated nanostructure of the BC/GO leads to greatly enhanced mechanical properties compared to those of bare BC. This strategy is versatile, facile, scalable, and can be promising for the development of high-performance BC-based nanocomposite hydrogels.