About

Wendy Krause is an Associate Professor in the Department of Textiles at NC State University, with a research focus on the structure-property relationships of macromolecules, particularly polymers, and their mechanical and rheological properties. Her work emphasizes biologically and medically relevant macromolecules and fibers, exploring topics such as polyelectrolyte solution dynamics, colloid structure, electrostatic self-assembly of nanolayers, nanocomposite mechanical properties, lubrication, biolubrication, tribology, tissue engineering, and biomaterials. Her research includes advancing understanding of synovial fluid mechanics, particularly the role of hyaluronic acid in joint lubrication and its implications for arthritis. She also develops biopolymer nanofibers for tissue engineering, aiming to mimic natural extracellular matrices through electrospinning techniques. Krause's background includes a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Penn State, where she investigated solution dynamics of polyelectrolytes, and a B.S. in Chemistry from MIT, with active participation in research and varsity sports. Her contributions extend to developing innovative materials and models to improve biomedical and industrial applications.

Research topics

• Composite material
• Materials science
• Nanotechnology
• Chemical engineering
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• Adsorption Characteristics of Bacterial Cellulose Membranes Toward Methylene Blue Dye in Aqueous Environment

  UNC Libraries · 2025-10-10

  articleOpen access

  Water pollution has escalated to critical levels in recent years as evident by the multiplicity of contaminants found in potable water sources. A point-source major contributor is the textile industry, which discharges substantial amounts of dye into rivers and lakes. Bacterial cellulose (BC), a renewable and low-cost nanocellulose material, has emerged as a potential solution addressing dye removal from these contaminated waters. Methylene Blue (MB) was selected as a representative dye for our adsorption studies. As a baseline for evaluating efficacy, BC was dried using three different methods: freeze-drying, oven-drying, and room-temperature drying. The adsorptive behavior of these dried BC samples toward MB in an aqueous environment was evaluated. Furthermore, to elucidate the structure–property relationship of dried BC, several characterization techniques were employed. Our studies revealed that freeze-dried BC exhibited the highest initial adsorption rate, while oven-dried BC demonstrated the overall highest adsorption capacity. Moreover, the adsorption data corresponded well with pseudo-second-order and Freundlich isotherm models. This investigation provides a comprehensive understanding of how BC, dried through different methods, performs in the adsorption of MB by establishing a baseline for future research.

  PublisherDOI

• Adsorption Characteristics of Bacterial Cellulose Membranes Toward Methylene Blue Dye in Aqueous Environment

  Gels · 2025-09-10 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Water pollution has escalated to critical levels in recent years as evident by the multiplicity of contaminants found in potable water sources. A point-source major contributor is the textile industry, which discharges substantial amounts of dye into rivers and lakes. Bacterial cellulose (BC), a renewable and low-cost nanocellulose material, has emerged as a potential solution addressing dye removal from these contaminated waters. Methylene Blue (MB) was selected as a representative dye for our adsorption studies. As a baseline for evaluating efficacy, BC was dried using three different methods: freeze-drying, oven-drying, and room-temperature drying. The adsorptive behavior of these dried BC samples toward MB in an aqueous environment was evaluated. Furthermore, to elucidate the structure-property relationship of dried BC, several characterization techniques were employed. Our studies revealed that freeze-dried BC exhibited the highest initial adsorption rate, while oven-dried BC demonstrated the overall highest adsorption capacity. Moreover, the adsorption data corresponded well with pseudo-second-order and Freundlich isotherm models. This investigation provides a comprehensive understanding of how BC, dried through different methods, performs in the adsorption of MB by establishing a baseline for future research.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Bacterial Superoleophobic Fibrous Matrices: A Naturally Occurring Liquid-Infused System for Oil–Water Separation

  Langmuir · 2021 · 17 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Chemical engineering
  • Materials science
  • Nanotechnology

  Nanocellulose fibers bioengineered by bacteria are a high-performance three-dimensional cross-linked network which can confine a dispersed liquid medium such as water. The strong chemical and physical interactions of dispersed water molecules with the entangled cellulosic network allow these materials to be ideal substrates for effective liquid separation. This type of phenomenon can be characterized as green with no equivalent precedent; its performance and sustainability relative to other cellulose-based or synthetic membranes are shown herein to be superior. In this work, we demonstrated that the renewable bacterial nanocellulosic membrane can be used as a stable liquid-infused system for the development of soft surfaces with superwettability and special adhesion properties and thus address intractable issues normally encountered by solid surfaces.

  PublisherDOI

• Mechanical Properties of Electrospun Fibers—A Critical Review

  Advanced Engineering Materials · 2021 · 246 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Materials science
  • Composite material
  • Nanotechnology

  The mechanical properties of electrospun fibers play an important role in determining their applications. Most of the reported literature measures the mechanical properties of electrospun mats, scaffolds, or films instead of single fibers; however, a basic understanding of the relationship between the mechanical properties of the single fiber and that of the mat is critical to obtain precise information for choosing their application. This Review aims to evaluate the reported mechanical properties of electrospun fibers and the variables that influence those properties. An overview on the recent inputs in the development of mechanical properties of electrospun fibers is given, illustrating attempts to tailor mechanical properties of the fibers and/or mats. The necessity of determining flexible and reliable testing methods to establish testing standards for obtaining consistent and reliable data for both electrospun fibers and mats is also highlighted.

  PublisherDOI

• Underwater Superoleophobic Matrix-Formatted Liquid-Infused Porous Biomembranes for Extremely Efficient Deconstitution of Nanoemulsions

  ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 2020-10-29 · 14 citations

  articleSenior author

  Wettability is one of the most critical interfacial properties of any surface. Surfaces with special wettability such as superwetting or superantiwetting are being intensively explored for their wide-ranging applicability by a biomimetic exploration of unusual wetting phenomena in nature. This study provides a green water-infused superoleophobic composite membrane by boosting bacteria nanocellulose growth on a reinforcement fibrous substrate. It was shown that this versatile antifouling membrane is capable of removing water from surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water micro/nanoemulsions and helps to isolate the oil fraction with very high filtration efficiency. The renewable membrane based on bacteria nanocellulose matrices can vastly improve current technologies by cultivating a naturally occurring soft materials approach with lubricious conformal interfaces to effectively and simply cover suitable surfaces.

  PublisherDOI

• A facile LED backlight in situ imaging technique to investigate sub-micron level processing

  Polymer Testing · 2020-09-26 · 8 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Many laboratory experimental techniques used for investigating fine fluid structure, such as fiber spinning, microfluidic flow, and electrospinning, require high quality images with good contrast. Common processes of observation and image recording rely heavily on highly technical light and camera setups which can be difficult to operate in some processing conditions and expensive as well. Here, we report a facile technique using LED backlight imaging to investigate ultrathin fluid profile in two different processes, melt electrospinning and tubeless siphoning. The setup comprises of a simple LED light source facing toward the camera, directly shining into the camera lens. The object under investigation was placed between the camera and the light source. The high-quality captured images and video recordings enable the precise analysis of the cone diameter and jet solidification in case of melt electrospinning, and extensional behavior profiles for tubeless siphoning. The LED backlight setup with high resolution camera is a useful tool to investigate sub-micron scale dimensions in fiber spinning, microfluidic flow, solution electrospinning, contact angle measurement for surface properties analysis, etc.

  PublisherDOI

• An Integrated Living And Learning Community For First And Second Year Undergraduate Women In Science And Engineering

  2020-09-03 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  The Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Village combines a group living experience with resident, upper-class mentors who assist in the transition to university life. Programs for the WISE community are designed to promote academic success, foster the formation of lasting relationships with fellow students, professors and mentors, and provide out-of-classroom experiences. The WISE Village is a supportive environment in which women engage in focused inquiry within their disciplines and develop the skills and talents necessary to become successful students and professionals in STEM fields. When the WISE Village began in 2003, it was as a partnership with University Housing, the College of Engineering (COE), and the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (PAMS). The Village has since expanded to include the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), the College of Natural Resources (CNR) and the College of Textiles (COT) and has grown from 56 participants in 2003 to 250 participants this academic year 2006-07. Currently, 60% of the women are freshmen, 35% are sophomores and 5% are juniors (mentors).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Nature-Inspired Liquid Infused Systems for Superwettable Surface Energies

  ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 2019-05-23 · 79 citations

  articleSenior author

  The development of an innovative interfacial wetting strategy known as liquid infused systems offers great promise for the advanced design of superwetting and superantiwetting substrates to overcome the drawbacks of textured surfaces classified under the heading of Cassie/Wenzel states. The potential value of nature-inspired surfaces has significant potential to address scientific and technological challenges within the field of interfacial chemistry. The objective of the current review is to provide insights into a fruitful and young field of research, highlight its historical developments, examine its nature-inspired design principles, gauge recent progress in emerging applications, and offer a fresh perspective for future research.

  PublisherDOI

• Bioengineering tunable porosity in bacterial nanocellulose matrices

  Soft Matter · 2019-01-01 · 39 citations

  articleSenior author

  A facile and effective method is described to engineer original bacterial cellulose fibrous networks with tunable porosity. We showed that the pore shape, volume, and size distribution of bacterial nanocellulose membranes can be tailored under appropriate culture conditions specifically carbon sources. Pore characterization techniques such as capillary flow porometry, the bubble point method, and gas adsorption-desorption technique as well as visualization techniques such as scanning electron and atomic force microscopy were utilized to investigate the morphology and shape of the pores within the membranes. Engineering various shape, size and volume characteristics of the pores available in pristine bacterial nanocellulose membranes leads to fabrication and development of eco-friendly materials with required characteristics for a broad range of applications.

  PublisherDOI

• An environmentally benign approach to achieving vectorial alignment and high microporosity in bacterial cellulose/chitosan scaffolds

  RSC Advances · 2017-01-01 · 76 citations

  articleOpen access

  Bacterial cellulose (BC) nanofibers secreted by<italic>Komagataeibacter xylinus</italic>10245 were applied alone or with chitosan to prepare highly aligned and porous scaffolds through a liquid nitrogen-initiated ice “templating” and freeze-drying process.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Lucian A. Lucia

  Qilu University of Technology

  37 shared

• Ralph H. Colby

  Pennsylvania State University

  15 shared

• Avinav G. Nandgaonkar

  Jiangnan University

  12 shared

• Russell E. Gorga

  Wilson College

  9 shared

• Orlando J. Rojas

  University of British Columbia

  9 shared

• Qufu Wei

  9 shared

• Taslim Ur Rashid

  University of Dhaka

  8 shared

• Rebecca R. Klossner

  7 shared

Labs

• Research Lab at Wilson College of TextilesPI

Education

• B.S., Chemistry

  MIT

Awards & honors

• Harold W. Fisher Scholarship (1991-1992)
• Carl P. and Marie G. Dennett Scholarship (1992-1993)
• International Paper Fellowship (1993)
• American Physical Society Padden Award Finalist (1999)