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Synthesis of cellulose–silica nanocomposites by in situ biomineralization during fermentation

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Abstract

Bacteria cellulose (BC) generated by Acetobacter xylinum is made up of three-dimensional network of ribbon-shaped nanofibers and serves as a promising matrix for composite materials. Lately different types of nanoparticles have been adopted to modify BC via chemical reactions or physical adsorption, which usually require two steps or more and could not modify BC homogeneously. In this study we provide a one-step in situ biomineralization method during microbial fermentation to produce BC–silica nanocomposites with control over silica content. By statically culturing Acetobacter xylinum in the medium containing various amounts of sodium silicate, the slightly acidic culture environment due to consumption of glucose during fermentation could transfer sodium silicate to amorphous silica deposition that is evenly distributed on BC. The BC–silica nanocomposites obtained by this method possess superior mechanical properties such as high tensile strength and Young’s modulus, which are potential candidates for future biomedical applications. With the analysis of elemental abundance and chemical structures, we propose the synthetic mechanism of in situ production of BC–silica nanocomposites. This method is an efficient, controllable and environmental-friendly method to synthesize BC–silica nanocomposites, which also provides insights to other BC-inorganic hybrid composites and microbial modifications by microbial synthetic systems.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Advanced Catalysis and Green Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Center (Changzhou University), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51873087, 51803092 and 81801839), National Natural Science Foundation of China Jiangsu Province (BK20180490), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grants 30920130121001 and 30919011221), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M632307, 2018M632309), and a Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD, China).

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Author notes

  1. Yuxiang Zhao, Bianjing Sun and Tao Wang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemicobiology and Functional Materials, School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, 200 Xiao Ling Wei, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

    Yuxiang Zhao, Bianjing Sun, Tao Wang, Luyu Yang, Xuran Xu, Chuntao Chen, Feng Wei, Wenlu Lv, Lei Zhang & Dongping Sun

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  1. Yuxiang Zhao
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  2. Bianjing Sun
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  3. Tao Wang
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Correspondence to Lei Zhang or Dongping Sun.

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Zhao, Y., Sun, B., Wang, T. et al. Synthesis of cellulose–silica nanocomposites by in situ biomineralization during fermentation. Cellulose 27, 703–712 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02824-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02824-z

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