Hybrid manufacturing of highly stretchable functionalized membrane for joint wound treatment

Abstract

Biofluid management of wounds is crucial to promote wound healing. Currently, traditional wound dressings designed for directional-water-transport face challenges in treating joint wounds. In this study, a functionalized bilayer membrane featuring high resilience, exceptional directional-water-transport capabilities, and antibacterial properties is proposed by a hybrid manufacturing combining solution electrospinning (SE) and melt electrowriting (MEW). Firstly, an electrospun nonwoven fabric treated with oxygen plasma serves as a hydrophilic layer followed by printing a MEW scaffold. The MEW fabricates a polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold containing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), forming the hydrophobic layer with antibacterial properties. The cyclic tensile test reveals that the MEW scaffold with a knit-like structure can effectively retain its original shape, surpassing the MEW scaffolds with the structures of lattice, serpentine, and sinusoidal. The bilayer membrane exhibits impressive mechanical properties, including an elongation at break of 439% and minimal plastic deformation of 2.9% after ten cyclic drawings at 20% strain. Furthermore, it demonstrates efficient directional-water-transport performance (the value of accumulative one-way transport capability is 1280%) and excellent antibacterial activity (antibacterial rates against E. coli and S. aureus exceed 99.99%). Overall, this bilayer membrane shows competitive potential as a wound dressing to promote wound healing, particularly for joint wounds.