Cellulose acetate honeycomb-like pattern created by improved phase separation

Abstract

The goal of this work was to prepare a honeycomb-like pattern (HCP) structure by a combination of acetate cellulose and poly-L-lactic as biocompatible and biodegradable polymers used in tissue engineering. The formation was obtained by a fast and cheap solution-immersion phase separation method based on the presence of nonsolvent, which induces phase separation in normal air without surfactants and supports the formation of the honeycomb structure. As a substrate, we used plasma modified fluorinated polymer, which can significantly improve the possibility of successful preparation HCP formation and control pore size and dimension of the prepared porous layer. Honeycomb-like pattern structure from composite acetate cellulose-PLLA on the surface of plasma-treated perfluorinated polymer FEP was prepared with a simple technique. Plasma modification changed the surface chemistry, wettability and thus allowed the creation of HCP microporous structure on the perfluorinated substrate. The regularity, surface morphology, and wettability of HCP film can be effectively controlled by changing of plasma activation.

Keywords

• biopolymers, biocomposites
• plla
• cellulose acetate
• honeycomb pattern
• surface morphology