Study of Structural Characteristics of Regenerated Bacterial and Plant Cellulose

In this research, a simple and modified method was used for the regeneration of bacterial cellulose (RBC). The bacterial cellulose (BC) was synthesized by the Acetobacterxylinum BPR2001 strain. The regeneration process was accomplished by copper ammonium rayon dissolution, which produces intermediate structures, significantly alters the original properties of native cellulose, and results in changes in structural and physicochemical features. Therefore, it is important to estimate the degree of variations in the structures and properties of both BC, plant cellulose (PC) during their regeneration. Due to removing hydrogen bonds, the regeneration process considerably decreases crystal size terms and crystallinity degree, which was determined through XRD. RBC and RPC differ substantially in terms of crystallinity, morphology, intermolecular adsorption band. Hydrogen bond destruction and strengthening amorphous properties of cellulose after the regeneration process was shown by FTIR. The FESEM results showed that porosity, crystalline, and morphological features of RBC were better than those of RPC. These findings may facilitate the use of RBC in the fabrication of BC-based biocomposites for various applications.