关键词: 细菌纤维素, 结构特性, 生物材料, 智能纺织品, 废水处理, 医用纺织品

Abstract:

Significance Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a porous, mesh-like nano-scale biopolymer synthesized through microbial fermentation. Due to its high purity, zero calories and zero cholesterol content, BC has become a popular food additive for people with diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular conditions. With ongoing research, scientists have discovered that BC's high moisture absorption rate, moisture retention capacity, and biocompatibility make it highly suitable for use as a tissue material, such as artificial skin and wound dressings. With the rise of nanotechnology, BC has also become a representative of "green nanomaterials," as its three-dimensional nano-fiber structure endows it with excellent mechanical properties and a high specific surface area. Materials such as nano-fiber membranes, hydrogels, and aerogels made from BC demonstrate unique value in fields like environmental protection, energy, and electronics. Recently, composites made from BC have begun to show their unique advantages in new textiles, such as vegan leather and flexible wearable devices. However, BC application in the textile field is still under explored. Therefore, it is necessary to review and summarize the current research status of BC and its composites as textile materials, as well as the production and modification challenges faced in applications to promote its development in the textile industry.

Progress To better promote the development of BC composites, this article introduces the structural composition and application characteristics of BC, and analyzes in detail the application fields of its composites and the problems they face, aiming to provide structured knowledge for the application development of BC in the textile industry. We summarize the excellent properties of BC, including high purity, high modulus, high water retention and breathability, good biocompatibility and biodegradability, and have collected a large amount of research data to analyze the application advantages and innovative achievements of these properties in packaging materials, new types of vegan leather, flexible wearable devices, medical textiles, and wastewater treatment, among others. Furthermore, we objectively analyze the existing problems in the preparation of BC composites and propose several solutions to promote the industrialization of BC materials. Currently, the low yield and high cost of BC are major challenges for large-scale application, which can be alleviated to some extent through genetic engineering, the use of additives, optimization of fermentation methods. In addition, we outline the issues of high difficulty in dissolution due to strong hydrogen bonding and poor reactivity due to dense structure, and summarize the techniques proposed by researchers to enhance performance through solvent swelling, physical stretching, and chemical modification. We hope this review will contribute to the large-scale production and industrialization of BC.

Conclusion and Prospect BC, as a natural biopolymer material produced by microbial fermentation, has demonstrated significant advantages in durability, renewability, multifunctionality, and customizability due to its unique nanofiber structure, excellent mechanical properties, and good biodegradability, meeting specific needs in various fields and scenarios, showcasing its powerful multifunctionality, and being an important component of the future green materials sector. Although BC meets the requirements of a sustainable economy to some extent, it still faces challenges for large-scale applications due to high production costs and low yields. Additionally, strong hydrogen bonding and processing difficulties caused by its dense structure are also obstacles that make large-scale production and commercialization of BC hard to overcome. Therefore, future research should focus on leveraging bioengineering and artificial intelligence technologies to further optimize processes, reduce BC costs, and make the preparation of its composites easier, thus promoting the application of bacterial cellulose in high-end textile products such as sustainable fibers, flexible wearables, and medical textiles.

Key words: bacterial cellulose, structural property, biomaterial, smart textiles, wastewater treatment, medical textiles