Bacterial cellulose/polyacrylamide composite hydrogel (BC/PAM) was prepared through free radical polymerization in which polyacrylamide (PAM) was introduced into the network of bacterial cellulose (BC).Structure and properties of composite hydrogels were studied through scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

infrared spectrum (IR)

thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA)

X-ray diffraction (XRD) and mechanical testing.SEM images of freeze-dried composite gels showed that polyacrylamide dispersed uniformally inside the network of BC and also coated on the surface of BC microfibers

which avoided the aggregation of BC mircofibers because of hydrogen bond during the drying process.It was found that the rehydration capacity of composite gels had been greatly enhanced and the shrinking of hydrogels converted to isotropic compared with the anisotropy of pure BC.IR results indicated that hydrogen bond interation formed significantly between BC and PAM

by which stable networks of PAM and BC formed although the cross-linker wasnt used during the polymerization of AM.X-ray diffraction results showed that PAM had a certain impact on the orientation of crystal face (10) during the drying process.TG results showed that the thermal stability of the composite hydrogels significantly increased.The first decomposite temperature increased to 385℃ compare with 320℃ of pure BC.Compression testing results indicated that the mechanical properities increased greatly.The compression strength and modulus of BC/PAM composite hydrogels increased to 2350 kPa and 212 kPa compared with 130 kPa and 8.36 kPa of the pure BC

respectively.