A Wearable Bioelectronic Patch With Adaptive Photodynamic and Electrical Stimulation for Drug‐Resistant Bacteria Infected Burn Wound Healing
Drug-resistant bacterial infections critically disrupt the intricate and sequential process of wound healing, resulting in non-healing wounds that compromise patient recovery and quality of life. Here, a smart wearable bioelectronic patch is designed for the adaptive management of drug-resistant bacteria-infected burn wounds, which integrates real-time diagnostic capability with regulable therapeutic modalities: photodynamic therapy (PDT) for on-demand infection control and electrical stimulation (ES) to accelerate tissue regeneration. The patch operates autonomously through a feedback loop: upon detection of elevated wound temperature resulting from infection-induced excessive inflammation, the non-antibiotic PDT modality is triggered to effectively eradicate drug-resistant bacteria. Subsequently, ES is activated to promote cellular proliferation and migration during the prolonged healing process. This multifunctional patch exhibited potent antibiotic-free antibacterial efficacy toward typical drug-resistant bacteria (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and significantly accelerated burn wound healing in both in vitro and in vivo models. By synchronizing diagnostic and adaptive therapeutic interventions, this integrated bioelectronic patch provides a smart platform that satisfies the dynamic and demanding requirements of drug-resistant bacteria-infected wound management.
Authors
- J W Zhang
- Renhao Nie
- Qingyan Jia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2685-7654)
- Rongrong Qin
- Gaofeng Wei
- Peng Li
- Dongqin Xu
- Cheng Huang
Institutions
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Flex (United States) (US)
- Naval University of Engineering (CN)
- Suzhou University of Science and Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2026-05-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.73707
- Primary Topic
- Wound Healing and Treatments
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China