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Bioinspired hybrid patches with self-adhesive hydrogel and piezoelectric nanogenerator for promoting skin wound healing

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Abstract

Wound management is a crucial measure for skin wound healing and is significantly important to maintaining the integrity of skins and their functions. Electrical stimulation at the wound site is a compelling strategy for skin wound repair. However, there has been an urgent need for wearable and point-of-care electrical stimulation devices that have self-adhesive and mechanical properties comparable to wound tissue. Herein, we develop a bioinspired hybrid patch with self-adhesive and piezoelectric nanogenerator (HPSP) for promoting skin wound healing, which is composed of a mussel-inspired hydrogel matrix and a piezoelectric nanogenerator based on aligned electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanofibers. The device with optimized modulus and permeability for skin wear can self-adhere to the wound site and locally produce a dynamic voltage caused by motion. We show that the HPSP not only promotes fibroblast proliferation and migration in vitro, but also effectively facilitates the collagen deposition, angiogenesis, and re-epithelialization in vivo with the increased expressions of crucial growth factors. The HPSP reduces the wound closure time of full-thickness skin defects by about 1/3, greatly accelerating the healing process. This patch can serve as wearable and real-time electrical stimulation devices, potentially useful in clinical applications of skin wound healing.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51973075 and 51525302) and Program for HUST Academic Frontier Youth Team (2015-01). The authors thank HUST Analytical and Testing Center for their supports on the facilities.

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  1. Shuo Du and Nuoya Zhou contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Materials Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Shuo Du, Yujie Gao, Ge Xie, Hao Jiang, Lianbin Zhang & Jintao Zhu

  2. Department of Dermatology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China

    Nuoya Zhou, Hongyao Du & Juan Tao

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  1. Shuo Du
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  2. Nuoya Zhou
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  3. Yujie Gao
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  4. Ge Xie
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  5. Hongyao Du
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  6. Hao Jiang
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  7. Lianbin Zhang
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Correspondence to Lianbin Zhang, Juan Tao or Jintao Zhu.

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Du, S., Zhou, N., Gao, Y. et al. Bioinspired hybrid patches with self-adhesive hydrogel and piezoelectric nanogenerator for promoting skin wound healing. Nano Res. 13, 2525–2533 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2891-9

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