Cellulose Electro-Active Paper for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

In our early work, cellulose has been discovered as a smart material. This newly discovered material is termed as electro-active paper (EAPap) that has merits in terms of lightweight, flexible, dryness, biodegradable, biocompatible, easy to chemically modify and cheap [1]. The actuation principle of cellulose EAPap actuator is known to be a combination of piezoelectric effect and ion migration effect. Since this new material is biodegradable and biocompatible, there are a lot of possible biomedical applications. This paper presents bacterial cellulose composites made by blending chitosan, poly(ethylene glycol) and gelatin for potential biomedical application of tissue engineering scaffold and would dressing material. The bacterial cellulose composites were successfully prepared by immersing wet bacterial cellulose pellicle in to chitosan, PEG or gelatin solutions followed by freeze-drying. The products look like a foam structure. Cell adhesion studies for these composites were carried out using 3T3 fibroblast cells. They showed much better biocompatibility than pure bacterial cellulose. Also, the concept of smart bandage is explained, which can come up with medical treatment layer of cellulose, sensing layer, antenna layer and integration of these layers. Issues in developing smart bandage are addressed in this paper.