Co₃O₄ Nanowires Capable of Discharging Low Voltage Electricity Showing Potent Antibacterial Activity for Treatment of Bacterial Skin Infection

Abstract

Overuse of antibiotics has led to multidrug resistance in bacteria, posing a tremendous challenge to the healthcare system. There is an urgent need to explore unconventional strategies to overcome this issue. Herein, for the first time, we report a capacitive Co 3 O 4 nanowire (NW) electrode coated on flexible carbon cloth, which is capable of eliminating bacteria while discharging, for the treatment of skin infection. Benefiting from the unique NW-like morphology, the Co 3 O 4 NW electrode with increased active sites and enhanced capacitive property exhibits a prominent antibacterial effect against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria after charging at a low voltage of 2 V for 30 min. Furthermore, the electrode is demonstrated to be recharged for multiple antibacterial treatment cycles without significant change of antibacterial activity, allowing for practical use in a non-clinical setting. More importantly, this Co 3 O 4 NW electrode is capable of damaging bacterial cell membrane and inducing the accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species without impairing viability of skin keratinocytes. In a mouse model of bacterial skin infection, the Co 3 O 4 electrode shows significant therapeutic efficacy by eradicating colonized bacteria, thus accelerating the healing process of infected wounds. This nanostructured capacitive electrode provides an antibiotic-free, rechargeable, and wearable approach to treat bacterial skin infection.

Ultralow Charge Voltage Triggering Exceptional Post‐Charging Antibacterial Capability of Co3O4/MnOOH Nanoneedles for Skin Infection Treatment

“…Additionally, to our knowledge, the antibacterial performance against E. coli is the best reported to date for electrical antibacterial (Figure 3f ). [ 25 , 29 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ] More importantly, the MCO still maintains exceeding antibacterial stability even after 8 cycles of charging–discharging (Figure 3g ).…”

“…[ 27 , 28 ] Recently, a Co 3 O 4 nanowire electrode after charging at 2 V for 30 min exhibited a good antibacterial rate against E. coli (≈93.8%, 1 log reduction) within 30 min treatment, showing the great potential of Co 3 O 4 as promising post‐charging candidate for bacterial infection therapy. [ 29 ] However, the critical issue for Co 3 O 4 is that its antibacterial efficacy is still low owing to its insufficient active sites and limited ROS yield. In this work, we remove these roadblocks by decorating Co 3 O 4 (CO) nanoneedles grown on the flexible carbon cloth with a thin MnOOH nanoparticles, which remarkably boost their post‐charging antibacterial activity ( Scheme 1 ).…”

Alginate-Based Cryogels for Combined Chemo/Photothermal Antibacterial Therapy and Rapid Hemostasis

“…In recent decades, the application of non-antibiotic treatments in the field of antibacterial has attracted distinguished attention. − Unlike the antibacterial mechanism of antibiotics, there are neither adjoint toxic and adverse effects nor obtained drug resistance by using the therapeutics. Due to the inherent deep penetration, noninvasiveness, and local site targeting properties, the near-infrared (NIR)-responsive photothermal therapy (PTT) offers a promising alternative for antibacterial wound dressing fabrication. − Photothermal-active materials such as metallic compounds, carbon nanomaterials, and organic dye have been completely studied for biomedical treatments. − However, their applied exploration is limited by the high cost, tedious synthesis, low biocompatibility, and low biodegradation.…”

“…In recent decades, the application of non-antibiotic treatments in the field of antibacterial has attracted distinguished attention. 19 − 26 Unlike the antibacterial mechanism of antibiotics, there are neither adjoint toxic and adverse effects nor obtained drug resistance by using the therapeutics. Due to the inherent deep penetration, noninvasiveness, and local site targeting properties, the near-infrared (NIR)-responsive photothermal therapy (PTT) offers a promising alternative for antibacterial wound dressing fabrication.…”

From energy storage to pathogen eradication: unveiling the antibacterial and antiviral capacities of flexible solid-state carbon cloth supercapacitors

“…12,22,[26][27][28][29] It has been reported that nanomaterial surface modification based on charge (polarity and magnitude) shows a virucidal effect by disturbing the surface potential of viral particles and distorting the viral capsid via van der Waals and electrostatic interactions. 3,30,31 Applying an external low-voltage potential to different materials such as laser-induced graphene (LIG), 23,32,33 sulfur-doped LIG electrodes, 34 graphene-coated non-woven air filters, 35 Cu foam electrodes 36 and Co 3 O 4 nanowires 37 have been reported to kill bacteria and viruses. As an example, Ghatak, et al 1 have shown that a weak electric field (0.5 V) generated by an electroceutical fabric can disrupt the infectivity of coronavirus upon contact by destabilizing the electrokinetic properties of the virion.…”