The development of nanocellulose has attracted significant interest in the last few decades due to its unique and potentially useful features. Novel nanocelluloses boost the strongly expanding field of sustainable materials and nanocomposites. Their potential areas of application include reinforcing agents in nanocomposites, paper, biodegradable films, barriers for packaging, stabilizing agents in dispersions for technical films and membranes, additives in food, texturing agents in cosmetics, and medical devices such as wound dressings and bioactive implants. This review organizes current knowledge on the isolation of microfibrillated and nanofibrillated cellulose from plant sources. Details of the extraction of fibrils from cellulose are reviewed. In addition, the terms cellulose "microfiber" and cellulose "nanofiber" are formally defined and distinguished.

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An attempt was made to print cotton fabric with pigments using a new thickening agent based on Aloe vera gel in combination with sodium alginate. The results were compared with the standard conventional printing recipe containing synthetic thickener, and a favourable effect of Aloe vera introduction was achieved. The results show that the properties of the printed fabric (sharpness, colour yield, overall fastness properties, softness, and water vapour transmission) are dependent on the percentage of Aloe vera gel in the thickener combination, the concentration of printing auxiliaries, and the curing conditions. Optimal printing properties were achieved by using a printing paste containing 80% Aloe vera/20% sodium alginate (700 g kg À1 ), pigment (50 g kg À1 ), binder (145 g kg À1 ), fixer (10 g kg À1 ), and ammonium sulfate (5 g kg À1 ), followed by drying at 85°C for 5 min and curing at 150°C for 3 min. The sample printed with the new recipe showed superior rubbing fastness and handle properties, with a slightly lower colour yield, when compared with the sample printed with synthetic thickener. Finally, economic issues arising from synthetic thickener substitution are highlighted.

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To gain insight into the trend of bacterial nanocellulose research, a bibliometric analysis was performed using the Science Citation Index Expanded database from 2005 to 2020. The study concentrated on the publication’s performance in terms of annual outputs and citations, mainstream journals, categories of the Web of Sciences, leading countries, prominent institutions, and trends in research. Current research priorities and future trends were analyzed after summarizing the most commonly used keywords extracted from words in the paper title analysis, authors’ keyword analysis, and KeyWords Plus. The findings revealed that the annual output in the form of scholarly articles on bacterial nanocellulose research steadily increased during the first quartile of the study period, followed by a very rapid increase in the last five-years of the study. Increasing mechanical strength would remain the main future focus of bacterial nanocellulose research to create its scope in different field of applications.

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