Fabrication of multicomponent cellulose/polypyrrole composed with zinc oxide nanoparticles for improving mechanical and biological properties

In this study, bacterial cellulose (BC)/polypyrrole (PPy) and zinc nanoparticles (ZnO), which simultaneously possess antimicrobial and cell proliferation properties were introduced as a new generation of nanocomposite aerogels. Despite these outstanding features, the use of PPy solely is limited due to its low stability, poor mechanical integrity, and difficulty processing. Accordingly, ZnO nanoparticle was first added to BC with different weight percentages of 1%, 3%, and 5%, and then PPy was embedded by in situ polymerizations. The porosity of all aerogel samples was higher than 80%, and their density was below 0.5 g/cm3. Based on the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) images, it was concluded that in the presence of PPy and ZnO within the BC structure, its fibrous and porous structure was preserved, although the structure seems denser. The FESEM images demonstrated that BC's nanofibrous and porous structure were also preserved in the coexistence of PPy and ZnO, and the microstructure of the grace grape was formed. In the ternary nanocomposite aerogels 5% ZnO, the elastic modulus and tensile strength increased. The inhibition zone's observation in the culture medium containing both Gram-positive and Negative bacteria well confirmed the antibacterial capability of the ternary nanocomposite aerogels. Also, the MTT results of L929 on aerogels showed that addition of 3% ZnO nanoparticles, cell adhesion and proliferation significantly increased over different times of culture. Schematic of preparation of cellulose/polypyrrole and zinc nanoparticles. [Display omitted] •Bacterial cellulose/polypyrrole and zinc nanoparticles were prepared for soft tissue engineering.•The prepared nanocomposite has low stability, poor mechanical integrity, and difficulty processing.•The porosity of all aerogel samples was higher than 80%, and 0.5 g/cm3 density.•The modulus and tensile strength reach to 7 GPa and 200 MPa.