Aerogels from unaltered bacterial cellulose: application of scCO2 drying for the preparation of shaped, ultra-lightweight cellulosic aerogels.

Bacterial cellulose produced by the gram-negative bacterium Gluconacetobacter xylinum was found to be an excellent native starting material for preparing shaped ultra-lightweight cellulose aerogels. The procedure comprises thorough washing and sterilization of the aquogel, quantitative solvent exchange and subsequent drying with supercritical carbon dioxide at 40 degrees C and 100 bar. The average density of the obtained dry cellulose aerogels is only about 8 mg x cm(-3) which is comparable to the most lightweight silica aerogels and distinctly lower than all values for cellulosic aerogels obtained from plant cellulose so far. SEM, ESEM and nitrogen adsorption experiments at 77 K reveal an open-porous network structure that consists of a comparatively high percentage of large mesopores and smaller macropores.

Rheological properties of cellulose/ionic liquid solutions: from dilute to concentrated states.

Steady state shear flow of different types of cellulose (microcrystalline, spruce sulfite and bacterial) dissolved in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate was studied in a large range of concentrations (0-15%) and temperatures (0-100 degrees C). Newtonian flow was recorded for all experimental conditions; these viscosity values were used for detailed viscosity-concentration and viscosity-temperature analysis. The exponent in the viscosity-concentration power law was found to be around 4 for temperatures from 0 to 40 degrees C, which is comparable with cellulose dissolved in other solvents, and around 2.5-3 for 60-100 degrees C. Intrinsic viscosities of all celluloses decreased with temperature, indicating a drop in solvent thermodynamic quality with heating. The data obtained can be reduced to a master plot of viscosity versus (concentration x intrinsic viscosity) for all celluloses studied in the whole temperature range. Mark-Houwink exponents were determined: they were lower than that for cellulose dissolved in LiCl/N,N-dimethylacetamide at 30 degrees C and close to theta-value. Viscosity-inverse temperature plots showed a concave shape that is dictated by solvent temperature dependence. The values of the activation energies calculated within Arrhenius approximation are in-line with those obtained for cellulose of comparable molecular weights in other solvents.