Janus fibrous membrane with directional liquid transport capacity for wound healing promotion

Biofluid management of wounds, which mainly focuses on wound exudate or moisture export to create good wound healing environment, is vital for patients’ health and life quality. The conventional cotton dressings are intrinsic hydrophilicity. Although they can absorb wound exudate, the excessive wound exudate is inevitable at the interface between the wound and dressing which impedes wound healing. Herein, we design and fabricate a novel fibrous Janus membrane with asymmetric wettability (hydrophobicity/superhydrophilicity) along the thickness of the membrane via electrospinning. The conventional cotton gauze anchored with titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles by sol–gel method shown superhydrophilicity and acted as the substrate. Then polycaprolactone (PCL) micro/nano fibers were electrospun on to form a thin hydrophobic layer. Taking advantages of such asymmetric wettability between hydrophobic PCL and superhydrophilic TiO2@Cotton, wound exudate and excessive moisture can directional drain away from the wound to in vitro, accelerate wound healing. Moreover, on accounts of the antibacterial property of TiO2 nanoparticles and biocompatibility of PCL itself, the PCL/TiO2@Cotton Janus membrane also exhibits excellent antibacterial and biocompatible capacities. This work may provide a new insight in designing and fabricating multifunctional wound dressing which has great potential for effective wound healing in medical field.