Elastic Janus film for Wound Dressings: Unidirectional Biofluid Transport and Effectively Promoting Wound Healing

The intrinsic hydrophilicity of conventional dressings cannot achieve effective management of excessive biofluid around the wound bed, which inevitably causes infection and hinders wound healing. In addition, present dressings such as medical gauze or band aids have a limited stretching capability, which does not comply well with the skin deformation during muscle movement, thus impacting patient comfort. Herein, a Janus wound dressing is reported by assembling an external hydrophobic (HP) adhesive tape, a filter paper, and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Janus film. The PDMS Janus film as the primary dressing can unidirectionally remove biofluid away from the wound bed. The mechanism of the unidirectional biofluid transport is investigated, demonstrating that the stretching or bending of the Janus dressing is beneficial for unidirectional biofluid draining. It indicates that the Janus PDMS film has potential for practical applications on stretched or bended skin surface. In addition, in order to prevent bacterial infection, amoxicillin powder is uniformly encapsulated on the HP layer of Janus film, resulting in faster wound healing. This study is valuable for designing and fabricating next-generation dressings with high performance for clinical applications.