Infrared Skin-Like Active Stretchable Electronics Based on Organic–Inorganic Composite Structures for Promotion of Cutaneous Wound Healing

Recent studies on flexible/stretchable medical electronics are almost all focusing on passive monitoring of physiological signs for medical diagnostics, but rare reports have been found on those for active therapeutic purposes. Here, a novel infrared skin-like active stretchable electronics (ISASE) is introduced with the organic–inorganic composite design for promotion of cutaneous wound healing, which can be conformally mounted anywhere on the human body due to its excellent flexibility and stretchability. Comprehensive experiments, including the proliferation and migration of human skin fibroblasts and rat dermal fibroblasts in vitro, and various tests on wound healing of rats, show favorable effects of the ISASE on promoting the fibroblast migration and proliferation, reducing the inflammatory phase, stimulating the angiogenesis, and shorting the wound healing period. A typical ISASE significantly shortens the cure time for a wounded rat by at least two days compared with the normal treatment with 12 days cure. The mechanical tests confirm the validity of the ISASE when used in extreme large deformations (e.g., stretched by up to 80% strain), which enables the conformability with the human body. The present portable and wearable ISASE demonstrates great potential for cutaneous wound healing, which constitutes an important complement to the current applications in the healthcare field.