Bacterial cellulose: a sustainable nanostructured polymer for biosensor development

Abstract

Biosensors represent a transformative class of analytical devices that convert the recognition of target analytes into quantifiable signals, offering enhanced accuracy, sustainability, and rapid response times through the selective detection of specific biomarkers. In response to growing demands for environmentally sustainable and high-performance technologies, the field is increasingly shifting toward renewable materials. Among these alternatives, bacterial cellulose (BC) has garnered significant attention as a promising sustainable platform for next-generation biosensors. This review provides a comprehensive overview of BC, encompassing its biosynthesis pathways, intrinsic physicochemical features, and versatile functionalization strategies for tailored biosensing performance. By focusing on the design and fabrication of BC-based biosensors, with an emphasis on coupling biorecognition elements to various transduction platforms, this review highlights their burgeoning applications across the domains of healthcare, environmental monitoring, and food safety. It then expands the discussion to their roles in early disease diagnosis, real-time wound monitoring, wearable health tracking, and point-of-care testing, as well as detection of pathogens, pesticides, and heavy metals. Further, the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing biosensor data analysis is explored, and finally concludes by discussing current challenges and future perspectives.