Morphology and structure of bacterial cellulose film after ionic liquid treatment

Abstract

Chemical treatment like ionic liquid is known as a green solvent had developed to improve the compatibility of bacterial cellulose in many composite applications. This study aimed to know the influence of treatment using the ionic liquid on the morphology and structure of bacterial cellulose film (BCF). The methods used a BCF made of pineapples peels waste. Pellicle, as fermentation product as long as 14 days, washed by distilled water then immersed to an ionic liquid solution such as 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl) for 2 h with concentrations of 0%, 2.5%, 5.0%, and 7.5%. Treated BC pellicle was dried in an oven for 6 h for obtaining bacterial cellulose film (BCF) then observed by XRD and SEM. The result showed that the treatment using BmimCl change the surface morphology and structure of of BCF. BmimCl solution with a concentration of 5.0% and 7.5% show cause some holes in the surface of bacterial cellulose film. BmimCl solution treatment changed the structure of BCF, indicated by the increasing the peak intensity of diffractogram at a diffraction angle of 14.4° and 22.7°. Crystalline content after treatment by BmimCl with concentrations of 0%, 2.5%, 5.0%, and 7.5% were 73.85%, 73.50%, 71.33%, and 72.81%, respectively.