Dispersions of attractive semiflexible fiberlike colloidal particles from bacterial cellulose microfibrils.
We prepared dispersions from bacterial cellulose microfibrils (CMF) of a commercial Nata de Coco source. We used an ultra-high-energy mechanical deagglomeration process that is able to disperse the CMFs from the pellicle in which they are organized in an irregular network. Because of the strong attractions between the CMFs, the dispersion remained highly heterogeneous, consisting of fiber bundles, flocs, and voids spanning tens to hundreds of micrometers depending on concentration. The size of these flocs increased with CMF concentration, the size of the bundles stayed constant, and the size of the voids decreased. The observed percolation threshold in MFC dispersions is lower than the theoretical prediction, which is accounted for by the attractive interactions in the system. Because bacterial cellulose is chemically very pure, it can be used to study the interaction of attractive and highly shape-anisotropic, semiflexible fiberlike colloidal particles.
Unilever R&D Vlaardingen , Olivier van Noortlaan 120, 3133 AT Vlaardingen, The Netherlands.
Anke
A
Kuijk
Remco
R
Koppert
Peter
P
Versluis
Gerard
G
van Dalen
Caroline
C
Remijn
Johan
J
Hazekamp
Jaap
J
Nijsse
Krassimir P
KP
Velikov
D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry; D020894:Microfibrils / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
D003102:Colloids; D002482:Cellulose