Development of Bacterial Cellulose Biocomposites Combined with Starch and Collagen and Evaluation of Their Properties

One of the major benefits of biomedicine is the use of biocomposites as wound dressings to help improve the treatment of injuries. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to develop and characterize biocomposites based on bacterial cellulose (BC) with different concentrations of collagen and starch and characterize their thermal, morphological, mechanical, physical, and barrier properties. In total, nine samples were produced with fixed amounts of glycerol and BC and variations in the amount of collagen and starch. The water activity (0.400-0.480), water solubility (12.94-69.7%), moisture (10.75-20.60%), thickness (0.04-0.11 mm), water vapor permeability (5.59-14.06 × 10^-8 g·mm/m²·h·Pa), grammage (8.91-39.58 g·cm^-2), opacity (8.37-36.67 Abs 600 nm·mm^-1), elongation (4.81-169.54%), and tensile strength (0.99-16.32 MPa) were evaluated and defined. In addition, scanning electron microscopy showed that adding biopolymers in the cellulose matrix made the surface compact, which also influenced the visual appearance. Thus, the performance of the biocomposites was directly influenced by their composition. The performance of the different samples obtained resulted in them having different potentials for application considering the injury type. This provides a solution for the ineffectiveness of traditional dressings, which is one of the great problems of the biomedical sector.