Bacterial Nanocellulose: Methods, Properties, and Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Unlike plant and wood-origin cellulose, bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) produced by bacteria exhibits the highest purity and natural nanofiber morphology, attracting increasing interest from many researchers and industrial sectors. It has numerous unique features including the biomimetic nanoscale three-dimensional (3D) network, high water holding capacity, and moldability in different shapes, accepted wet strength, outstanding gas permeability, and good biocompatibility, which makes the BNC show great potential in a wide variety of biomedical applications. Extensive research has verified the feasibility of application in wound dressing, bone/cartilage tissue regeneration, vascular tissue engineering, and so on. This chapter focuses on the production and properties of BNC, the fabrication of BNC-based biomaterials, and the biomedical applications of BNC.