Enhanced rheological properties and conductivity of bacterial cellulose hydrogels and aerogels through complexation with metal ions and PEDOT/PSS

Bacterial cellulose (BC) based hybrid hydrogels and aerogels have been fabricated by reformatting BC pellicles. BC pellicles are formed by tight fibrillar networks making it challenging to incorporate other materials to form hybrids or composites. In this study, BC pellicles produced from two Acetobacteracea family members are disintegrated into individual nanofibrils via TEMPO-mediated oxidation. The individualized BC nanofibrils about tens of microns in length and 20–50 nm in width are well-dispersed in water with crystallinity and birefringence of cellulose I. These BC nanofibril dispersions are non-Newtonian fluid. Upon complexation with 0.75 mmol/g of Fe³⁺, the formed BC nanofibril hydrogels display 17-fold increase in storage moduli. Composite aerogels formed by complexation with conductive polymer PEDOT/PSS show characteristics of a non-Hookean foam material with conductivity value of up to 0.86 S/cm for cellulose density of 4.2 mg/cm².