Highly Flexible and Conformable ZnO/FeGa Magnetoelectric Heterostructures for Skin wound Healing
Composite magnetoelectric (piezoelectric/magnetostrictive) materials are gaining an increased interest due to their appealing wireless actuation capabilities. For many applications, such as sensing, energy harvesting or cell electrostimulation, flexible and adaptable heterostructures are required. However, some of the proposed structures suffer from poor magnetoelectric performance due to their inherent stiffness and the resulting substrate clamping effects. Here, a highly flexible and conformable nanostructured ZnO(piezoelectric)/FeGa(magnetostrictive) magnetoelectric heterostructure embedded in a low Young's modulus elastomer (polydimethylsiloxane; PDMS) is presented. This heterostructure is designed to enhance wound healing via electric stimulation induced by low-intensity and low-frequency AC magnetic fields. In vitro testing using normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF) and human keratinocytes (HaCaT) cell cultures demonstrated high cell viability and no adverse effects under magnetoelectric stimulation. Moreover, the magnetoelectric stimulation significantly enhanced keratinocyte stratification and fibroblast collagen production, with remarkable improvements in cell migration compared to non-stimulated cells. These results underscore the potential of highly flexible magnetoelectric heterostructures as active dressings to improve wound healing processes, especially relevant for chronic wounds and other epithelial disorders.
Authors
- Goran Dražić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-8050)
- Darja Lisjak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4154-4592)
- M.J. Esplandiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2079-0639)
- Andreu Blanquer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3551-1885)
- J. Nogués (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4616-1371)
- Aritz Lafuente (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1497-5744)
- Xiangzhong Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2294-7487)
- Christina Stefani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8818-075X)
- Borja Sepúlveda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1562-7602)
- Bojan Ambrožič (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9114-2826)
- Carme Nogués (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6361-8559)
- Cristina Vaca
- Salvador Pané
- Minsoo Kim
- Jordi Sort (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1213-3639)
- Filippos Perdikos
- Joaquin Llacer‐Wintle
- Laia Bagur
Institutions
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
- Jožef Stefan Institute (SI)
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ES)
- Applied Nanotech (United States) (US)
- Robotics Research (United States) (US)
- Institut Marcel Mauss (FR)
- National Institute of Biology (SI)
- National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (SI)
- National Institute of Chemistry (SI)
- Intelligent Health (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Yiwu Science and Technology Research Institute (CN)
- Institut de Microelectrònica de Barcelona (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2026-06-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202523781
- Primary Topic
- Wound Healing and Treatments
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
- Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca
- Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation
- Horizon 2020
- HORIZON EUROPE Excellent Science