Self powered e-bandage speeds up skin healing

Even after several experiments on skin healing process, including bandaging, dressing, exposure to oxygen and growth-factor therapy, they often show limited effectiveness. Recently a team of doctors from China and the US have developed a new kind of easy to wear electric bandages that are self-powered and will speed up the healing process which generates an electric field over an injury, dramatically reducing the healing time for skin wounds. 

Skin has a remarkable ability to heal itself. But in some cases, wounds heal very slowly or not at all, putting a person at risk for chronic pain, infection and scarring. Researchers wanted to develop a flexible, self-powered bandage that could convert skin movements into a therapeutic electric field. They tested the bandage on rats. To power their e-bandage, the team made a wearable nano generator by overlapping sheets of polytetrafluoroethylene, copper foil and polyethylene terephthalate. Wounds covered by e-bandages closed within three days, compared with 12 days for a control bandage with no electric field.

Researchers from University of Wisconsin in the US and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China wanted to develop a flexible, self-powered bandage that could convert skin movements into a therapeutic electric field. As early as the 1960s, researchers observed that electrical stimulation could help skin wounds heal. However, the equipment for generating the electric field is often large and may require patient hospitalization. Weibo Cai, Xudong Wang and colleagues wanted to develop a flexible, self-powered bandage that could convert skin movements into a therapeutic electric field.

The nanogenerator converted skin movements, which occur during normal activity or even breathing, into small electrical pulses. This current flowed to two working electrodes that were placed on either side of the skin wound to produce a weak electric field. The team tested the device by placing it over wounds on rats’ backs. Wounds covered by e-bandages closed within 3 days, compared with 12 days for a control bandage with no electric field.  The researchers attribute the faster wound healing to enhanced fibroblast migration, proliferation and differentiation induced by the electric field.

Scientists explained that the pulses increase the feasibility of fibroblasts – type of skin cell – and encourages them to line up, which is key to the healing process. Also, the pulses produce additional biochemical materials that contribute to the tissue growth.