Engineered piezoelectric dressings advance cutaneous wound healing

Conventional wound dressings present inherent limitations in the therapeutic management of cutaneous wounds. Given the pivotal role of endogenous bioelectric fields in tissue repair, piezoelectric materials have emerged as a novel class of stimulus responsive biomaterials capable of transforming mechanical energy into biocompatible electrical signals, offering innovative solutions to address the bottlenecks of conventional interventions. Distinct from existing literature, this review demonstrates significant uniqueness by integrating the dual dimensions of breadth and depth. In terms of breadth, this review comprehensively covers and systematically categorizes a wide variety of piezoelectric dressing systems alongside their diverse stimulus responsive behaviors. In terms of depth, it not only profoundly elucidates the physical and chemical mechanisms underlying the piezoelectric effect and piezocatalysis, but also meticulously explores the key biological mechanisms through which they modulate multidimensional cellular behaviors and exert antibacterial effects. Building upon this foundation, the review systematically summarizes the current frontier application achievements of utilizing piezoelectric technologies for wound management. Finally, this review summarizes the major technical challenges and clinical translation bottlenecks facing piezoelectric dressings, and proposes highly promising future research directions, aiming to establish a solid theoretical framework and practical guidance for the development of piezoelectric wound management systems. Piezoelectric dressings show great promise for enhancing cutaneous wound repair beyond the capabilities of conventional dressings. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the research progress in piezoelectric dressings, a discussion on the principles of piezoelectricity and its biological regulatory mechanisms, and a presentation of the associated challenges and future perspectives. • Engineered piezoelectric dressings for cutaneous wound healing are reviewed. • The fundamental physicochemical principles underlying piezoelectric effect and piezocatalysis are overviewed. • The molecular mechanisms through which piezoelectric materials modulate cellular behaviors are summarized. • The technical challenges and clinical translation barriers confronting piezoelectric dressings are discussed.