Bacterial Cellulose and Its Polymeric Nanocomposites - The Nanoscience and Technology of Renewable Biomaterials - page 239

1 µ m

(a)

1 µ m

(b)

Figure9.6 SEMimageof (a)untreatedBCsheetand(b)acetylatedBCone. (Reprintedwith
permission fromNogi,M.; Abe, K.; Handa, K.; Nakatsubo, F.; Ifuku, S.; Yano, H., Property
enhancement of optically transparent bionanofiber composites by acetylation. Applied
Physics Letters,2006,89(23),233123,Copyright2006,AmericanInstituteofPhysics.)

rapidly increased to 25 . 10 − 6 /K. The fact that all the properties monitored passed through
an optimum was ascribed to a positive effect of BC surface acetylation up to the point
where the crystalline structure of the BC was disrupted.
These advances in BC utilization for optoelectronic devices brought about by Nogi's
group undoubtedly constitute a very significant development of BC application in mate-
rials of high commercial potential. As a result, these developments have been largely
patented (17-23). Two other research groups have reported on the development of
acrylic/BC nanocomposites for potential use as cation exchange membranes (24) or
as biomaterials for soft tissue replacement or repair (25). In the first approach, dried