Nanocellulose (NC) is a valuable material in tissue engineering, wound dressing, and drug delivery, but its lack of antimicrobial activity is a major drawback for these applications. In this work, basil ethanolic extract (BE) and basil seed mucilage (BSM) were used to endow nanocellulose with antibacterial activity. NC/BE and NC/BE/BSM sponges were obtained from nanocellulose suspensions and different amounts of BE and BSM after freeze-drying. Regardless of the BE or BSM content, the sponges started to decompose at a lower temperature due to the presence of highly volatile active compounds in BE. A SEM investigation revealed an opened-cell structure and nanofibrillar morphology for all the sponges, while highly impregnated nanofibers were observed by SEM in NC/BE sponges with higher amounts of BE. A quantitative evaluation of the porous morphology by microcomputer tomography showed that the open porosity of the sponges varied between 70% and 82%, being lower in the sponges with higher BE/BSM content due to the impregnation of cellulose nanofibers with BE/BSM, which led to smaller pores. The addition of BE increased the specific compression strength of the NC/BE sponges, with a higher amount of BE having a stronger effect. A slight inhibition of S. aureus growth was observed in the NC/BE sponges with a higher amount of BE, and no effect was observed in the unmodified NC. In addition, the NC/BE sponge with the highest amount of BE and the best antibacterial effect in the series showed no cytotoxic effect and did not interfere with the normal development of the L929 cell line, similar to the unmodified NC. This work uses a simple, straightforward method to obtain highly porous nanocellulose structures containing antibacterial basil extract for use in biomedical applications.
The growing interest in materials derived from biomass has generated a multitude of solutions for the development of new sustainable materials with low environmental impact. We report here, for the first time, a strategy to obtain bio-based nanocomposites from epoxidized linseed oil (ELO), itaconic acid (IA), and surface-treated nanofibrillated cellulose (NC). The effect of nanofibrillated cellulose functionalized with silane (NC/S) and then grafted with methacrylic acid (NC/SM) on the properties of the resulted bio-based epoxy systems was thoroughly investigated. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results showed that the addition of NCs did not influence the curing process and had a slight impact on the maximum peak temperature. Moreover, the NCs improved the onset degradation temperature of the epoxy-based nanocomposites by more than 30 °C, regardless of their treatment. The most important effect on the mechanical properties of bio-based epoxy nanocomposites, i.e., an increase in the storage modulus by more than 60% at room temperature was observed in the case of NC/SM addition. Therefore, NC’s treatment with silane and methacrylic acid improved the epoxy–nanofiber interface and led to a very good dispersion of the NC/SM in the epoxy network, as observed by the SEM investigation. The dielectric results proved the suitability of the obtained bio-based epoxy/NCs materials as substitutes for petroleum-based thermosets in the fabrication of flexible electronic devices.
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