Smart bio-textiles for medicine and healthcare applications

Abstract

Bio-textiles based on natural, synthetic, and hybrid polymers have commonly been used in smart applications of medicine and health care. Bio-textiles can be defined as biocompatible, biodegradable, and biostable materials composed of fibrous textile structures and designed for specific medicinal and healthcare uses like prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of an injury or disease. In the production of bio-textiles, several processes like spinning, fabrication, coating, printing, and finishing have been applied. Bio-textiles have been used in particular for smart medical applications as nanosensors, bio-sensors, fibre optic sensors, wearable sensors, and smart materials for tissue engineering, wound care, and drug delivery systems. These smart applications are of vital importance for patients with chronic health problems and critical diseases. In this chapter, the structural properties and production processes of bio-textiles, smart applications of bio-textiles for medicine and health care, and future trends have been reviewed. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.