A bifunctional hydrogel incorporated with CuS@MoS2 microspheres for disinfection and improved wound healing

Recent advances in antibacterial technology has made it possible to obviate the needs for antibiotics to combat bacterial infection during would healing. However, few current wound dressings can simultaneously kill bacteria efficiently and promote would healing by facilitating revascularization. Herein, a hybrid hydrogel embedded with CuS@MoS2 microspheres is synthesized. This hydrogel exhibits outstanding antibacterial activities in a short time and enhances wound healing at the same time. Within 15 min, 99.3% of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and 99.5% of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) are killed due to the synergistic effects rendered by the photodynamic and photothermal antibacterial treatments under co-irradiation of 660 nm visible light (VL) and 808 near infrared (NIR) light. The synergistic effects rendered by hyperthermia and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by the hydrogel during light irradiation improves the bacterial membrane permeability so that the bacterial membrane and protein can be easily destroyed by ROS, leading to rapid killing of bacteria in vitro and in vivo. In addition, the CuS@MoS2-incorporated hydrogel expedites wound healing because of promotion of the hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1 alpha) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and subsequent vascularization at the wound sites. This safe and synergistic therapy system has large potential in bacteria-infected wound healing therapy.