Bioinspired adhesive and self-healing bacterial cellulose hydrogels formed by a multiple dynamic crosslinking strategy for sealing hemostasis

Abstract Hydrogels have attracted widespread attention in controlling bleeding due to their superiority in matching irregular defects. However, inadequate mechanical performance, insufficient adhesion and long gelation times still hinder their application for hemostasis. In this study, a novel hydrogel with self-healing and adhesive properties was designed and synthesized by introducing reversible borate ester bonds of polyvinyl alcohol-borax into tannic acid-modified bacterial cellulose (TA@BC). As demonstrated by tensile stress‒strain tests and rheological measurements, the hydrogels have excellent mechanical performance owing to the synergistic multiple crosslinked bonds among tannic acid-modified bacterial cellulose (TA@BC), polyvinyl alcohol polymer chains and borax in a covalent polymer network. The hydrogels show good self-healing properties and adhesion to different substrates. Moreover, blood loss from a wound treated with the designed hydrogel was approximately 1/5th that from an untreated wound, demonstrating the excellent hemostatic capacity of the hydrogels. Therefore, the designed hydrogels have potential applications in hemostasis and wound dressing. Graphical abstract