Constructing bacterial cellulose and its composites: regulating treatments towards applications

The production and advanced treatments of bacterial cellulose (BC) and its composites have garnered increased attention in the past decades. As a biodegradable polymer, BC possesses remarkable purity, super-fine nanonetwork structure, biocompatibility, and excellent mechanical properties, which could satisfy the most needs of application areas. The comprehensive knowledge of different BC treatment methods is critical to property modification through composite formation towards multifunctional applications. In this review, we summarised three BC treatment methods and relevant functional composite construction processes, especially the emerging breaking-refactoring methods. It is known that the structure-property-application relationship of BC composites is tightly linked. The successful development of multifunctional BC-based composites will rely on good sustainability and exploration of BC-based composite preparation technology. Applications of BC and its composites based on those treatment methods are reviewed. The properties and characteristics underlying these approaches to BC and its composite applications are also discussed here.