Wound Healing Accelerated by Silver Nanowire-Doped Methacryloyl Gelatin Dressings

Developing multifunctional hydrogel dressings with good biocompatibility and mechanical compatibility can accelerate skin healing and alleviate pain. Although hydrogel dressings can achieve a wound closure rate of nearly 90% in 15 days, there is room for improving their healing efficiency. Herein, we synthesized a novel hydrogel dressing by doping methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) with silver nanowires (AgNWs) via mechanical mixing and ultraviolet light curing. We abbreviated the GelMA/AgMWs hydrogels as GMAN_x, with “x” indicating the initial amount of AgNWs (w/v). We found that GMAN₅, with an AgNWs content of 0.5 mg/mL, had potent antibacterial activity (nearly 100% against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli), displayed good biocompatibility, and achieved a wound closure rate of 99.6% within 14 days (circular skin wounds with a diameter of 10 mm). The AgNWs not only improved the mechanical property of the hydrogel wound dressing but also made it conductive. Thanks to its excellent strain electrical response (gage factor (GF) = 2.3 under low strain conditions of 0-70%) and temperature electrical response (temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) = 3.68%/°C within 30-40 °C), the GelMA₅ hydrogel dressing has potential applications for sensing changes in the wound.