Antimicrobial bacterial cellulose composites as textile materials

Abstract Bacterial cellulose (BC) has a unique nanofibrillar structure which determines its potential applications, especially in the medical field. Even if its application as textile material does not have a large spread, its potential is very promising, being a green material which could replace other textile materials, including leather, with many advantages. In its native state it is considered as a nonwoven textile. Its hydrophilic nature could be an obstacle to developing textile materials from BC on a large scale. The aim of this paper is to review the state-of-the-art for the most important biopolymers and natural antimicrobial agents which are used to develop antimicrobial textiles, laying emphasis on BC and BC antimicrobial composites. The paper will be focused especially on manners of obtaining BC from cheap resources in different bioreactors and on the possibilities to process BC in order to obtain antimicrobial textile materials with tailored properties.