Bi-layer supramolecular polydimethylsiloxane elastomer film: Synthesis, characterization, and application in wound dressing on normal and diabetic rat

Treatment of chronic wounds, such as diabetic feet, pressure sores and skin ulcer, has been a difficult issue for wound dressings. It is of great interest but challenging to develop an ideal dressing for chronic wounds with long-term functionality, transparency for clinical observation and adaptability to skin deformation. In this work, we designed a supramolecular polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer material with double layer structure. After a series characterizations including mechanical properties, adhesion properties, water-vapor permeability and bio-compatibility, this bi-layer film (BLF) is evaluated as a wound dressing in the wound healing model in both normal and diabetic rat. The results show that the BLF dressing has good bio-compatibility, similar moisture permeability and adhesion properties compared with a commercial medical Tegaderm (TM) film. Moreover, benefiting from the comparatively lower modulus, the BLF dressing provides more stable attachment to the skin and an enclosed moist healing environment for the wounds, which is found to promote the healing process in the early stage.