Structural, Piezoelectric, Thermal, and Mechanical Characterisation of Bacterial Nanocellulose/Aluminium Nitride Nanocomposite

Abstract

Low cost Bacterial nanocellulose (BC) obtained from biowaste is emerging as eco-friendly material with potential for sensing and energy harvesting applications because of its biocompatibility, flexibility, mechanical, thermal and piezoelectric properties. This research presents the synthesis of biocompatible nanocomposite of bacterial nanocellulose (BC) and aluminium nitride (AlN) for enhancing the piezoelectric, mechanical and thermal properties. The incorporation of AlN into the BC matrix was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FTIR spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermogravimetric analysis. Mechanical strength was enhanced from 6.83 MPa (pure BC) to 45.56 MPa (BC/AlN) The d₃₃ of the composite was enhanced from 2.27 pC/N for pure BC to 5.92 pC/N for the composite. A higher thermal stability is achieved in the composite film with 73% total weight loss in BC/AlN in comparison to 91% for pure BC at 800 °C. Further, the nanocomposites exhibited biocompatibility towards 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells. The novelty of the work lies in synthesizing a nanocomposite of bacterial nanocellulose obtained from waste and incorporating another biocompatible compound, which enhanced piezoelectric, thermal, dielectric and mechanical properties of the BC/AlN nanocomposites, making it an attractive material for its potential use in biomedical, textile, energy harvesting, wearables and energy storage.