Cross-Linked Cellulose Membranes with Robust Mechanical Property, Self-Adaptive Breathability, and Excellent Biocompatibility

Abstract

High-performance breathable bio-based membranes have attracted considerable attention worldwide due to the limited fossil energy resources and the demand for sustainable development.As the most abundant polysaccharide, cellulose is an almost inexhaustible raw material with hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, biodegradability, chemical modifying capacity, etc. that has demonstrated versatile applications. Herein, cellulose membranes (CEMs) with mechanically strong property, self-adaptive breathability, and excellent biocompatibility were fabricated by a green technology. The obtained CEMs exhibited an increased integrated mechanical property with the broken strength and broken elongation improved from 54.2 to 137.4 MPa and from 4.7 to 18.3%, respectively. Moreover, the obtained cellulose membranes exhibited a self-adaptive breathability with varying temperature and relative humidity (RH), and the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of CEMs was much better than that of some famous commercial products, such as 3M-Nexcare. Besides that, cytotoxicity testing results revealed that CEMs were noncytotoxic, with cell viability reaching up to 97%, showing an excellent biocompatibility. Simultaneously, compared to the pristine cellulose membrane, the transmittance and water repellency of cross-linked membranes have been improved to some degree. It is believed that the achieved membranes are effective and scalable products for meritorious applications in medical bandages, wound healing, smart apparels, building materials, and so forth.

Cellulose Film with Air Barrier and Moisture-Conducting Character Fabricated by a Green Process

“…6b), in which NIH-3T3 cells was live-dead stained with the green color standing for live cells and the red color standing for dead cells. It's shown that there are no obvious dead cells in both CL-N series lms group and control groups, the cell number all had a fast increase from 1d to 3d incubation and the morphology are all similar broblast-like, indicating that cells could be alive and continuously grew with good cell adhesion in the existence of CL-N series lms, con rming the good biocompatibility of the cellulose lms prepared by NMMO, which is consistent with the chemical crosslinked cellulose lm (Shi et al, 2019). Therefore, it's providing experimental support for potential application of cellulose in food preservation and textiles eld.…”

“…With the increase of NMMO content from 0-10%, the tensile strength of the cellulose lm increased from 106.1MPa to 149.5MPa, higher than the regeneration cellulose lm fabricated in alkali/urea system (Fig. 4d, Table 1) (Shi et al, 2019). This is because the cellulose lm was prepared with different concentrations of the coagulation bath results in different degrees of crystallinity (Fig.…”

“…This feature can ensure that the lm remains stable in complex chemical environment. In fact, composite lms based on cellulose and chitosan lms with similar structures have the same excellent performance in solvent resistance experiments (Shi et al, 2019;Zhu et al, 2019). In these works, lms in different solvents only show swelling and its geometry has not been destroyed.…”

Recent Progress in Protective Membranes Fabricated via Electrospinning: Advanced Materials, Biomimetic Structures, and Functional Applications

“…This membrane possesses a stable WVT, that is, the WVT would not reduce owing to micropore clogging during usage. [ 119 ] Typical films of this type are hydrophilic polyester and PU films. Introducing hydrophilic groups, such as, amino, hydroxyl, ether, and carboxyl groups, can improve the hydrophilicity of the molecular chain to achieve moisture permeability of the membranes.…”

Recent Progress in High‐Strength and Robust Regenerated Cellulose Materials

“…Based on chemical crosslinking to offer the materials good elasticity and toughness, Hu and co‐workers fabricated chemically crosslinked cellulose membranes from NaOH/urea aqueous solution by crosslinking with ECH. [ 91 ] The obtained cellulose membranes exhibited strong mechanical properties with breaking strength of 137.4 MPa and elongation at break of 18.3%, respectively. The membranes displayed self‐adaptive breathability and excellent biocompatibility, showing promising application for biomedical bandages and smart apparel.…”