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Multiscale composite nanofiber membranes with asymmetric wetability: preparation, characterization, and applications in wound dressings

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Abstract

The use of regular wound dressings commonly brings about excessively retained wound exudate between the dressing and the wound, which is detrimental to the healing. This study manages to control the biofluid around wounds effectively. To begin with, silk fibroin (SF) is extracted from silk. Next, SF and PCL are mixed and electrospun into multiscale hydrophobic nanofibers on the surface of the dopamine (PDA)-treated hydrophilic PVA nanofibrous membranes, thereby forming asymmetric wetability composite membranes with one-way water conduction. Moreover, PVA nanofibrous membranes are immersed in a PDA solution with an attempt to have a greater surface chemical activity and thus demonstrate an 85% greater wicking height and an air permeability being 90 mm/s. A 20% (w/v) SF solution and an 8% (w/v) PCL solution with a feeding rate being 1:3 provide the resulting SF/PCL nanofibrous membranes with greater hydrophobic properties, namely a water contact angle being 112°. In addition, the ultimate asymmetric wetability composite membranes exhibit an excellent wetting gradient, which benefits the directional transmission of moisture. The moisture management test results indicate that when the electrospinning time for PVA and SF/PCL layers is separately 30 min and 5 min, the resulting composite membranes attain the effect of one-way water conduction. In vitro analysis confirmed that the composite membrane produced were non-toxic. This unique wound dressing with one-way water conduction has a giant potential to serve as new type wound dressings for clinical use.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (18JCQNJC03400), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51503145 and 11702187), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian (2018J01504, 2018J01505) and the Program for Innovative Research Team in University of Tianjin (TD13-5043).

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Author notes

  1. Ting-Ting Li and Yanqin Zhong have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Innovation Platform of Intelligent and Energy-Saving Textiles, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Ting-Ting Li, Yanqin Zhong, Hao-Kai Peng, Hai-Tao Ren, Jia-Horng Lin & Ching-Wen Lou

  2. Tianjin and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Advanced Textile Composite Materials, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Ting-Ting Li

  3. School of Life Sciences, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Hongli Chen

  4. Laboratory of Fiber Application and Manufacturing, Department of Fiber and Composite Materials, Feng Chia University, Taichung, 40724, Taiwan

    Jia-Horng Lin

  5. School of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan

    Jia-Horng Lin

  6. Department of Bioinformatics and Medical Engineering, Asia University, Taichung, 41354, Taiwan

    Ching-Wen Lou

  7. Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan

    Ching-Wen Lou

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  1. Ting-Ting Li
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  2. Yanqin Zhong
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  5. Hongli Chen
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Contributions

In this study, the concepts and designs for the experiment are supervised by Prof. Jia-Horng Lin and Prof. Ching-Wen Lou. Experiment and data processing are conducted by Yanqin Zhong, Dr. Hao-Kai Peng and Dr. Hongli Chen. Text composition and results analysis are performed by Dr. Ting-Ting Li, Yanqin Zhong and Dr. Hai-Tao Ren. The experimental result is examined by Dr. Ting-Ting Li, Prof.Ching-Wen Lou and Dr. Hao-Kai Peng.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jia-Horng Lin or Ching-Wen Lou.

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Li, TT., Zhong, Y., Peng, HK. et al. Multiscale composite nanofiber membranes with asymmetric wetability: preparation, characterization, and applications in wound dressings. J Mater Sci 56, 4407–4419 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05531-4

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