Hydrogels based on cellulose comprising many organic biopolymers including cellulose, chitin, and chitosan are the hydrophilic material, which can absorb and retain a huge proportion of water in the interstitial sites of their structures. These polymers feature many amazing properties such as responsiveness to pH, time, temperature, chemical species and biological conditions besides a very high-water absorption capacity. Biopolymer hydrogels can be manipulated and crafted for numerous applications leading to a tremendous boom in research during recent times in scientific communities. With the growing environmental concerns and an emergent demand, researchers throughout the globe are concentrating particularly on naturally derived hydrogels due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability and abundance. Cellulose-based hydrogels are considered as useful biocompatible materials to be used in medical devices to treat, augment or replace any tissue, organ, or help function of the body. These hydrogels also hold a great promise for applications in agricultural activity, as smart materials and some other useful industrial purposes. This review offers an overview of the recent and contemporary research regarding physiochemical properties of cellulose-based hydrogels along with their applications in multidisciplinary areas including biomedical fields such as drug delivery, tissue engineering and wound healing, healthcare and hygienic products as well as in agriculture, textiles and industrial applications as smart materials.Graphical abstract

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In the recent years, the medical sector is getting increasingly interested in the wound dressing materials that contain medicinal herb instead of metal nanoparticles to impart antibacterial or other desirable properties. Herein, a novel multicomponent nanofibrous mat has been successfully prepared by electrospinning technique from a blended solution of polyvinyl alcohol, honey and Curcumin longa (turmeric) extract for potential application as the wound dressing material. Ethyl acetate extraction was followed to obtain the restorative components of turmeric. The fabricated nanofibrous materials were characterized by scanning electron microscope, moisture management tester, bacterial assay and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to evaluate their morphological, moisture, antibacterial and chemical behavior, respectively. Nanofibers of fabricated mat show an average diameter of 340 nm with better moisture management properties compared to polyvinyl alcohol nanomat alone. The agar diffusion method has been used to evaluate the antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria showing the formation of inhibition zone with a value of 29 mm and 38 mm. The presence of characteristic peaks in Fourier-transform infrared spectra reveals that all the desired components are present in the developed nanofibrous mats.