Bioinspired manufacturing of oriented polysaccharides scaffolds for strong, optical haze and anti-UV/bacterial...

Here, biomimetic dual esterification strategy was proposed on natural polysaccharides cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and galactomannan (GM) in combination with tartaric acid (TA) and benzoic anhydride (BA) respectively. Evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) formed the oriented quasinematic structure of the nanocomposites membranes. The CNCs crystallites were modified by TA and intercalated by amorphous polysaccharides, building a complex supramolecular network. Thus, it presents excellent light scattering property with the optical haze of ~90%, which was rarely reported previously. TA and BA simultaneously contributed to satisfying UV adsorption capability for the membranes, showing almost whole-spectra UVA/UVB blocking. Super high mechanical strength (>150 MPa) and toughness (~8 kJ/m³) were revealed by the membranes with high addition amount of BA, together with the efficient antibacterial capability on both Gram-positive and negative bacteria. The diverse optical, mechanical and biological functions displayed by the polysaccharides membranes, propose new horizons on application for packaging, optoelectronic and biomonitoring sensors.