Ultrasonic Interfacial Engineering of MoS2-Modified Zn Single-Atom Catalysts for Efficient Osteomyelitis Sonodynamic Ion Therapy

Osteomyelitis is considered as the most serious bone infection, which can lead to the bone destruction or fatal sepsis. Clinical treatments through frequent antibiotics administration and surgical debridement bring inevitable side effects including drug-resistance and disfigurements. It is urgent to develop an antibiotics-free and rapid strategy to treat osteomyelitis. Herein, a bifunctional sonosensitizer that consists of porphyrin-like Zn single-atom catalysts (g-ZnN4) and MoS2 quantum dots is developed, which exhibits excellent sonodynamic antibacterial efficiency and osteogenic ability. It is found that the construction of heterogeneous interfaces of g-ZnN4-MoS2 fully activates the adsorbed O-2 due to the increased interface charge transfer, enhanced spin-flip, and reduced activation energy of O-2. The generated O-1(2) can kill methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with an antibacterial efficiency of 99.58% under 20 min of ultrasound (US) irradiation. The Zn single atoms immobilized in g-ZnN4 can be released steadily in the form of Zn2+ for 28 days within safe concentration, realizing the great osteoinductive ability of such a sonosensitizer. For the treatment of MRSA-infected osteomyelitis, the inflammation and bone loss can be significantly suppressed through sonodynamic ion therapy. This work provides another strategy for developing high efficiency sonosensitizer through ultrasound interfacial engineering.

Automated summary

A bifunctional sonosensitizer combining porphyrin-like Zn single-atom catalysts and MoS2 quantum dots has been developed for the treatment of osteomyelitis, showing excellent antibacterial efficiency and osteogenic ability.