Bioinspired Conductive Silk Microfiber Integrated Bioelectronic for Diagnosis and Wound Healing in Diabetes

Ideal epidermal bioelectronics can be used not only for long-term detection of physiological signals for disease diagnosis but also for chronic disease treatment. Silk, an animal-derived fiber with good biocompatibility and skin-affinity, is widely used in flexible bioelectronics. However, silk fibers are insulating. In this study, ultralong conductive silk microfibers (mSFs) are fabricated by extracting mSF from raw silk using a bioinspired extraction-protection process with the assistance of polydopamine, followed by deposition of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) on its surface. The conductive mSFs are produced and used to fabricate a conductive flexible silk fibroin patch, which is used as a conformable bioelectronic for monitoring physiological signals. In addition, as the conductive mSF possessed anti-oxidative activity, the patch exhibits excellent performance in chronic diabetic wound healing by reducing inflammation and regulating oxidative stress. Thus, this bioinspired strategy produces conductive silk fibers that can be used as biocompatible building blocks, opening new avenues for employing passive silk as an active component in the design of epidermal wound repair biomaterials and next-generation flexible epidermal bioelectronics.

Automated summary

Conductive silk microfibers were fabricated using a bioinspired method in this study, which were then used to make a conductive flexible silk fibroin patch for monitoring physiological signals and promoting chronic diabetic wound healing with excellent performance.