Eco-friendly cellulose-based hydrogel functionalized by NIR-responsive multimodal antibacterial polymeric ionic liquid as platform for promoting wound healing

Abstract

With the trend of sustainable development and the complex medical environment, there is a strong demand for multimodal antibacterial cellulose wound dressing (MACD) with photothermal therapy (PTT). Herein, a novel MACD fabrication strategy with PTT was proposed and implemented through graft polymerization of an imidazolium ionic liquid monomer containing iron complex anion structure. The fabricated hydrogels exhibited excellent antibacterial properties because of the efficient photothermal conversion ability (68.67 %) of ionic liquids and the intrinsic structural characteristic of quaternary ammonium salts. The antibacterial ratio of cellulosic hydrogel dressings to S. aureus and E. coli could reach 99.57 % and 99.16 %, respectively. Additionally, the fabricated hydrogels demonstrated extremely low hemolysis rates (<5 %) and excellent cell viability (~>85 %). Furthermore, in vivo antibacterial experimental results proved that the fabricated antibacterial dressings could significantly accelerate wound healing. Therefore, the proposed strategy would provide a new method of designing and preparing high-performance cellulose wound dressings.

Keywords: Cellulose; Graft modification; Photothermal therapy; Polymeric ionic liquid; Structure-property relationship.