Arbitrarily shapeable and conductive hydrogel with “Magic Cube” like structure for real-time monitoring and promoting wound healing

Developing hydrogel dressings for chronic non-healing wounds in irregular-shaped or moveable sites has great practical applications. In this work, a novel polyelectrolyte composite hydrogel (HSa) was fabricated from chitosan quaternary ammonium salt (HACC) and sodium alginate (SA) through blending and acid-treated process. The positive charges of HACC and negative charges of SA self-assembled and intertwined to form a “Magic Cube”-like structure. The amino groups of HACC were protonized and the Na + of SA was replaced by proton after acid treatment, further strengthening the interactions between the two chips of “Magic Cube”. HSa hydrogel was proven to be arbitrarily shapeable with high flexibility (tensile strain is around 280%). Due to free Cl − , HSa hydrogel presented good conductivity (1.14 × 10 −3 S/cm) and positive linear relationship between its electrical resistance change and area change, which denoted its ability to monitor joint movement or subtle shrinkage. HSa hydrogel exhibited good biocompatibility and was further applied as dressing in an irregular-shaped wound model. HSa hydrogel could significantly accelerate the wound healing by elevating collagen deposition and vessel formation. Simultaneously, HSa hydrogel could monitor the wound closure in real-time. Therefore, HSa hydrogel had multifunctional potential for wound healing and monitoring, especially for irregular-shaped or movable sites. • A simple strategy for fabricating arbitrarily shapeable and conductive hydrogel. • HSa hydrogel has a “Magic Cube” like structure. • HSa hydrogel has good hemostasis effects and biocompatibility. • HSa hydrogel combines wound pro-healing and real-time monitoring functions. • HSa hydrogel could be beneficial for chronic non-healing wounds.