Smart dressings based on bacterial cellulose for chronic wounds healing and monitoring

In recent years, there has been an upward trend for novel biomass based green materials for dressing chronic wounds, which can assist in wound healing and monitoring. This research focuses on candidate components for smart chronic wound dressings based on bacterial cellulose (BC), which is comprised of two parts: antimicrobial BC nanocomposites for wound dressing, and a BC-derived pH sensor for monitoring chronic wounds. This research demonstrates a novel ability to utilise BC and BC-derived nanocomposites in potential applications for smart wound dressings. In the chapter regarding BC production, samples grown in static from four different Acetobacter bacterial strains are characterized and compared for the first time. SEM and BET results demonstrate a large surface area (>100 m2/g) and XRD analysis reveals high crystallinity (>60%). In vitro cell tests indicate potential biocompatibility. In the BC based pH sensor chapter, a pyrolyzed BC (p-BC) aerogel was incorporated with polyaniline (PANI) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), exhibiting near-Nernst pH sensitivity (50.4 mV/pH). In the chapter on antimicrobial BC nanocomposites, the inorganic BC/silver nanoparticle (BC/AgNP) and organic BC/lysozyme, BC/eggshell membrane (BC/ESM), BC/methylglyoxal (BC/MGO) nanocomposites were fabricated and characterized, with BC/ESM and BC/MGO nanocomposites proposed for the first time. The antimicrobial properties were tested via a disk diffusion method, with BC/MGO exhibiting the greatest antimicrobial activity, with diameters of inhibition zone (DIZ) up to 17.1 ± 0.6 mm against S. aureus and 15.5 ± 0.5 mm against E. coli. Tensile tests show the nanocomposites still retain the high tensile strength of plain BC (>2 MPa). These results indicate that BC and BC-derived nanocomposites are promising candidate materials for smart wound dressings. The future work will focus on more detailed in vitro biocompatibility tests and in vivo wound healing assays