Liquid Metal Microsphere-Embedded Conductive Hydrogel Enables Electro-Responsive Drug Release for Wound Healing
Ziliang Cui, Bo Wang, Xuelin Wang, Cheng Hao, Min Du, Jing Liu, Yubo Fan
Abstract
Electrical stimulation (ES) is a powerful tool for promoting wound repair by guiding cell behavior, triggering dynamic drug release, and modulating the immune microenvironment via applied electric fields, yet optimizing the synergy between conductive networks and controlled drug release remains challenging. Leveraging intrinsic conductivity, Ga 3 + -mediated antibacterial effects, and nanoscale drug carriers, liquid metal (LM)-based electro-responsive hydrogels offer a promising platform for dynamic modulation of the wound microenvironment and precise drug release. Nevertheless, challenges remain in maintaining drug-loading stability and ES healing synchronization during the healing process. Here, an electro-responsive LM microsphere conductive hydrogel was proposed to enable electrically triggered drug release, achieving precise delivery for effective antibacterial activity and accelerated wound healing, with in vivo results demonstrating a 99.1% closure rate of infected wounds after 15 days. By engineering a unique “sesame ball”-like hierarchical structure on the LM microsphere surface, the conductive hydrogel facilitated highly efficient drug loading via electrostatic adsorption and exhibited controlled release under ES, achieving 80% release at 600 mV within 10 h, alongside potent antibacterial performance with an in vitro inhibition rate of up to 100%. Collectively, this LM conductive hydrogel enables controllable drug delivery and microenvironment modulation for intelligent patient-customized wound therapy.