Bacterial Nanocellulose -A Remarkable Polymer for Biomedical Applications: Production, Engineering, and Recent Advances and Developments

Bacterial NanoCellulose (BNC), a unique and promising natural polymer, due to its renewability, excellent biological features, remarkable physical properties, and special surface chemistry has received much attention for biomedical applications in recent years. There are several methods for synthesizing BNC, each with its own set of benefits and drawbacks. Modification approaches are used significantly to improve the properties of BNC or BNC-based structures for long-term and short-term biomedical applications. The fabrication of BNC-based antimicrobial materials for wound dressings, drug delivery, and hard and soft tissue regeneration is a major concern of many researchers. A wide range of biomaterials such as antibiotics, metal, and metal oxide nanoparticles are used for preparing BNC-based antimicrobial structures. In this review, we presented the main and necessary information on the key aspects of synthesis and BNC properties. Furthermore, recent literature related to the preparation and biomedical applications of BNC-based materials is reviewed. Aligned with the current trends in BNC, BNC-based biocomposites present a great field to be explored and other amazing characteristics can be expected in relation to soft and hard tissue repair, drug delivery, and other biomedical applications in the near future.