Electrospinning Machine | A thermogalvanic cell dressing for smart wound monitoring and accelerated healing

Currently, smart dressings with wound monitoring and electrical stimulation functions rely on flexible electronic devices composed of various sensors and external power sources. Although increasing efforts integrate all these components onto flexible, breathable, and biocompatible substrates, achieving zero-power electrical stimulation without compromising clinical applicability remains challenging.

Recently, a team led by Professor Wei Lei from Nanyang Technological University reported a solution that utilizes the temperature gradient between the wound and the dressing to generate electrical stimulation, providing active wound healing management. This is achieved through a thermogalvanic cell (TGC) dressing composed of a Fe2+/Fe3+ cross-linked alginate hydrogel reinforced by nanofibers. The TGC dressing is biocompatible, antibacterial, easily remodelable, and moisture-permeable. Furthermore, the TGC dressing generates an exogenous electric field, promoting spontaneous and accelerated wound healing. The study also integrated a sensing system that can monitor respiratory rate. In a large pig wound model, the TGC dressing group showed an approximately 20.6% improvement in wound healing rate compared to the untreated group on day 14. The wireless wound monitoring system can provide real-time monitoring of common wound models at different stages of wound development. The related research results were published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering (IF 26.6) under the title "A thermogalvanic cell dressing for smart wound monitoring and accelerated healing".

Figure 1 Moisture permeability and ion leakage characteristics of the fiber-composite TGC dressing.

Figure 2 Thermoelectric effect of the TGC dressing and enhancement of the wound exogenous electric field.

Figure 3 In vitro and in vivo biocompatibility and healing characteristics of the TGC dressing.

Figure 4 Portable wound monitoring and analysis system for the TGC dressing.

Conclusion:
This study introduces the thermoelectric effect into traditional biomaterial systems, proposing a multifunctional smart dressing strategy for chronic wound treatment. The constructed TGC dressing integrates temperature monitoring, exudate management, and electrical stimulation intervention, demonstrating good synergistic performance and clinical application potential. Simultaneously, the companion developed wearable wireless system enables real-time tracking, intelligent identification of wound temperature, and respiratory rate monitoring, promoting the transformation of wound management towards digitalization and personalization, expanding new pathways for chronic wound treatment. This strategy has completed preliminary validation in animal models of full-thickness skin defects related to diabetes and bacterial infection. Future research can further extend to other types of wounds (such as burns, immune dysfunction, nervous system-related trauma, etc.) and combine multi-omics analysis to deeply analyze the regulatory mechanisms, accelerating the clinical translation process of smart dressings.

Original link::https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-025-01440-6