High-Strength Superstretchable Helical Bacterial Cellulose Fibers with a “Self-Fiber-Reinforced Structure”

Abstract

As a hydrogel membrane grown on the gas−liquid interface by bacterial culture that can be industrialized, bacterial cellulose (BC) cannot give full play to the advantages of its natural nanofibers. Conversion to the properties of nanofibers from highperformance to macrofibers represents a difficult material engineering challenge. Herein, we construct high-strength BC macrofibers with a "self-fiber-reinforced structure" using a dry-wet spinning method by adjusting the BC dissolution and concentration. The macrofiber with a tensile strength of 649 MPa and a strain of 17.2% can be obtained, which is one of the strongest and toughest cellulose fibers. In addition, the macrofiber can be fabricated to a superstretchable helical fiber without adding other elastomers or auxiliary materials. When the helical diameter is 1.6 mm, the ultimate stretch reaches 1240%. Meanwhile, cyclic tests show that the mechanical properties and morphology of the fiber remained stable after 100 times of 100% cyclic stretching. It is exciting that the helical fiber also owns outstanding knittability, washability, scalability, and dyeability. Furthermore, superstretchable functional helical BC fibers can be fabricated by embedding functional materials (carbon materials, conductive polymers, etc.) on BC or in the spinning dope, which can be made to wearable devices such as fiber solid-state supercapacitors. This work provides a scalable way for high-strength superstretchable and multifunctional fibers applied in wearable devices.

Insights into Hierarchical Structure–Property–Application Relationships of Advanced Bacterial Cellulose Materials

“…F,G) Reproduced with permission. [ 99 ] Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society. H) Schematic illustration of super‐strong, super‐stiff BC macrofiber fabrication.…”

Recent Progress of Electrospun Herbal Medicine Nanofibers

“…In addition to electrospinning technology can produce nanofibers, other production methods can also be used (Table 2), such as stretching [162], self-assembly [163], phase separation [164], template synthesis [165], melt spraying [166], freeze-drying [167], solvent casting [168], laser ablation [169], chemical vapor deposition [170], solution blowing [171], carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) laser supersonic stretching [172], force spinning [173], dry and wet spinning [174], electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing [175].…”

Progress, Challenge, and Perspective of Fabricating Cellulose

“…The active areas in spinning research are how to improve efficiency and develop high‐performance fibers or a greener process. [ 158–162 ] Zhu et al. reports the strong multifilament fibers spun from cellulose solution in NaOH/LiOH/urea/H 2 O via inducing formation of nanofibers.…”

“…In this structure, regenerated cellulose and amorphous cellulose are serving as continuous phase and undissolved cellulose I are known as a self‐fiber‐reinforced phase. [ 160 ] Noted that except from above mentioned solution parameters (cellulose sources, solvents, [ 163 ] antisolvents), process parameters such as air gaps, [ 164 ] needle size and the extrusion speed [ 165 ] also influence the final structure and quality of fibers.…”

“…The active areas in spinning research are how to improve efficiency and develop high-performance fibers or a greener process. [158][159][160][161][162] Zhu et al reports the strong multifilament fibers spun from cellulose solution in NaOH/LiOH/urea/H 2 O via inducing formation of nanofibers. [153] Figure 3e presents the gel-state fibers (left), the image of prepared cellulose fibers (middle) and the corresponding SEM of cross section (right), which shows obvious wellaligned nanofibers with a mean diameter of 27 nm.…”