Excessive biofluid around wounds often causes infection and hinders wound healing. However, the intrinsic hydrophilicity of the conventional dressing inevitably retains excessive biofluid at the interface between the dressing and the wound. Herein, a self-pumping dressing is reported, by electrospinning a hydrophobic nanofiber array onto a hydrophilic microfiber network, which can unidirectionally drain excessive biofluid away from wounds and finally accelerate the wound healing process. The hydrophilic microfiber network offers a draining force to pump excessive biofluid through the hydrophobic nanofiber array, which can further keep those pumped biofluids from rewetting the wounds. In the proof of concept, the self-pumping dressing unidirectionally drains the biofluid from murine dorsum wounds, thereby resulting in faster wound healing than conventional dressings. This unique self-pumping dressing has enormous potential to be a next-generation dressing for healing wounds clinically.
Keywords: electrospinning; hydrophilic-hydrophobic Janus materials; self-pumping; unidirectional draining; wound dressings.
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