Fabric-like bacterial cellulose for textile applications – analysis of influences between physical and thermal dehydration on end-use performance

Abstract

When researching practical applications for fashion, healthcare, and others of Bacterial Cellulose (BC), dehydration of BC is currently emphasized as one of its primary limits, which reduces the material’s attractiveness in these fields. This work explored the effects of physical and thermal dehydration methods on dehydration effectiveness, rehydration, appearance, structure, and morphology. Squeezing employing the padding method results in the most effective dehydration for mass and thickness loss (97.76 ± 0.31% and 98.29 ± 0.32%, respectively), which is advantageous for productivity (roundly 108-432 times faster than freeze-drying and 105 °C convection drying). Fabric-like BC produced possesses a good appearance, oriented fiber arrangement, fabric-embossing surface, thin thickness (0.27 ± 0.06 mm), water absorbency (11.93 ± 1.09 weight times), strong bursting strength, water vapor transmission, resistance to water penetration, and proactive moisture content selection. Fabric-like BC, therefore, will uncover tremendous potential applications of textile finishing and dyeing for modification and functionalization in environment-friendly, and productive ways and make progress in BC dehydration.