A Hemostatic And Photothermal-Antimicrobial Adhesive Hydrogel For Wound Healing

Human skin is the outermost organ of the body and severe wounds caused by accidents, battles or disasters can compromise the integrity of the skin and often lead to life-threatening complications. To address this problem this study designed a hemostatic and photothermal antimicrobial adhesive hydrogel for wound healing. In this study, carboxymethyl chitosan-polydopamine (CMC-PDA) hydrogels crosslinked with Fe³⁺ ions were synthesized via in situ ligand-mediated polymerization. The successful synthesis of hydrogels was verified and their physicochemical properties were examined by SEM, FTIR, UV-vis, and NIR irradiation; Biocompatibility, antimicrobial efficacy, antioxidant capacity, and immunomodulatory activity were assessed using live-dead cell staining, CCK-8 assays, bacterial plate cultures, DCFH-DA reactive oxygen species (ROS) detection, and immunofluorescence imaging. In vivo evaluation using an infected diabetic rat wound model demonstrated the hydrogel’s ability to suppress infection and accelerate wound closure through enhanced angiogenesis and macrophage polarization. Firstly, the hydrogel exhibited robust physicochemical properties, strong adhesion (∼80 kPa) and high photothermal conversion efficiency (warming >30℃). Meanwhile, the CMC-Fe³⁺-PDA hydrogel exhibited good anti-infective, antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects. Finally, CMC-Fe³⁺-PDA hydrogel promoted the crawling of granulation tissue in rat whole skin wounds and accelerated wound repair. The CMC-Fe³⁺-PDA hydrogel designed in this study has good adhesion, hemostatic, antimicrobial, antioxidant activity and pro-healing properties, which has a wide range of clinical applications and provides a new strategy and new materials for the clinical treatment of skin wounds.