A highly stretchable, adhesive and absorbent hybrid hydrogel dressing for photothermal/chemodynamic antibacterial therapy

Infection caused by pathogenic microorganisms is an important obstacle to wound healing in clinical practice. An antibacterial hydrogel dressing is an ideal treatment strategy for wound infection. Here, we develop a highly stretchable, skin-adhesive and absorbent hydrogel dressing by a simple one-step synthesis of composite polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogel containing phenylboronic acid (BA) and the PEDOT:PSS polymer. The resulting PAM/BA/PEDOT (PBP) hydrogel not only shows an outstanding photothermal heating property but also possesses good peroxidase-like activity due to the existence of PEDOT:PSS. The addition of BA improves the water absorption of the network structure of the PBP hydrogel, which provides convenience for the absorption of wound exudates. Moreover, the PBP hydrogel has remarkable skin adhesion, toughness and tensile properties. In vitro assays demonstrate significant photothermal/chemodynamic (PTT/CDT) antibacterial ability of the PBP hydrogel to both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, in vivo antibacterial results indicate that the PBP hydrogel can effectively treat the skin wound infection and promote wound healing. Taken together, this PBP hydrogel displays great potential as an antibacterial dressing for synergistic anti-infective therapy in vivo.