Researchers from the two Empa laboratories Biointerfaces and Biomimetic Membranes and Textiles in St. Gallen are developing smart plasters designed to soften and release disinfectant when it heats up due to an inflammation and infection, further details of which can be found in a press release. “In this way, wounds could be treated as needed at exactly the right moment”, explains materials researcher Fei Pan in the press release.
To this end, Fei Pan, team leader Qun Ren and an interdisciplinary team produced a skin-compatible polymer composite. They were able to incorporate octenidine in the nanofibers of the membrane to disinfect the wound. The bandage reacts when the temperature of the skin rises from 34 degrees to 37 degrees by changing from a “solid consistency to a rubbery, toughened state” and releasing the octenidine. An advantage of this approach is that the process is reversible and can be repeated up to five times. This is because the process always “switches itself off” when it cools down, the press release states.
The researchers will now seek to refine the effects and reduce the temperature differences in further laboratory experiments. In the future, the technology could also be transferred to other drugs in order to use them more efficiently and precisely. According to the press release, this can prevent medication from being wasted and wounds from being overtreated, with the result that “wasteful use of antibiotics” and the associated emergence of multi-resistant germs, which represents “an immense problem in global healthcare”, could potentially be contained in this way.
