146 ISSN 0012-5016, Doklady Physical Chemistry, 2019, Vol. 488, Part 2, pp. 146–150. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2019. Russian Text © The Author(s), 2019, published in Doklady Akademii Nauk, 2019, Vol. 488, No. 4. Effect of Interaction of Bacterial Cellulose with Gold Nanoparticles Obtained by Metal Vapor Synthesis M. S. Rubina a, *, M. A. Pigaleva a,b, **, I. E. Butenko a,c , A. V. Budnikov a , A. V. Naumkin a , T. I. Gromovykh c , S. V. Lutsenko c , and A. Yu. Vasil’kov a Presented by Academician A.R. Khokhlov June 12, 2019 Received June 12, 2019 Abstract—A promising method for preparation of new functional nanocomposite materials based on bacterial cellulose and Au nanoparticles was proposed for the first time. The Au nanoparticles were obtained by bio- compatible and environmentally friendly metal vapor synthesis. The structure and composition of the surface of composite films were studied by XPS, SEM, and IR spectroscopy. Gold nanoparticles were found to effi- ciently chemisorb nanofibrils of bacterial cellulose, which gave nanoparticles of approximately 25 nm in size with a “metal core–hydrocarbon shell” structure. DOI: 10.1134/S0012501619100026 Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a pure natural biomate- rial generated by certain aerobic bacteria. Bacterial cellulose films are known to have a nanofibrillar microporous structure, high mechanical strength, and biocompatibility [1]. However, BC does not possess antimicrobial activity and, hence, it cannot be used as, for example, wound- and burn-healing dressing, since BC is unable to prevent the bacterial damage of the wound. Modification of BC by active metal nanopar- ticles expands the scope of its applicability for biomed- ical purposes. Therefore, currently, of considerable interest is the use BC-based functional composites with metal, in particular, gold nanoparticles in various fields of science and technology, e.g., in biomedicine as antimicrobial [2] and anticancer agents, in chemi- cal industry as reusable catalysts, in biotechnology for enzyme immobilization, and in bioelectronic sys- tems [3]. Traditionally, BC composites with gold nanoparti- cles are obtained by immersing BC into a solution of HAuCl 4 and subsequent chemical reduction [4, 5]. However, traces of reducing agents may remain in the modified BC, which is undesirable both for biomedi- cal applications requiring high purity of materials and for catalysis, since these impurities may, for example, poison catalytic surfaces in the reaction medium. Metal vapor synthesis (MVS) is an advanced method for the preparation of metal nanoparticles. The method implies simultaneous evaporation of a metal and an organic ligand followed by condensation on the liquid nitrogen-cooled reactor wall under a vac- uum (10 –4 –10 –6 atm). Benefits of this method for pre- paring metal nanoparticles are as follows: the absence of by-products during the formation of metal nanoparticles; the possibility to obtain nanoparticles of various metals, including those possessing pro- nounced antimicrobial and anticancer activities and/or magnetic properties; ease of modification of various types of supports, including biopolymeric matrices to improve their properties. Unlike most other methods for nanoparticle fabrication, MVS is environmentally benign and can be easily integrated into various technological cycles. Currently, this envi- ronmentally clean method is actively utilized to fabri- cate new hybrid metallic polymers for biomedical applications [6] and to prepare new nanofungicidal agents [7]. In this study, BC-based gold-containing nano- composites were prepared for the first time using MVS and the details of their formation were studied. The resulting composite was investigated by X-ray photo- electron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY a Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991 Russia b Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia c Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, 119146 Russia *e-mail: margorubina@yandex.ru **e-mail: pigaleva@polly.phys.msu.ru