Mechanical and Thermal Properties Enhancement and Swelling Behavior of Bacterial Cellulose/Collagen/Polyvinyl Alcohol Nanofiber Hydrogel Film

Composite hydrogel films of bacterial cellulose/collagen/polyvinyl alcohol were prepared by soaking method using bacterial cellulose hydrogel (BC) was as the base material, collagen (COL) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were introduced as the reinforcement material to further improve the tensile strength especially elongation at break. Morphology, mechanical property, and thermal stability of composite hydrogel films were also investigated. The swelling behavior was studied using Schott’s second-order swelling model in detail. Research results show that BC/PVA/COL composite showed 181.9 % improvement in elongation at break to that of BC. It further improved the tensile strength of the obtained BC/PVA/COL composite film by 12.9% after crosslinking treatment. Importantly, further investigation demonstrated that the structural stability and thermal stability of the composite hydrogel films were remarkably enhanced. Swelling behavior of BC and the composite nanofiber hydrogel films in DI water followed the Schott’s second-order swelling model, the swelling of composites significantly reduced after crosslinking treatment.