Fabrication and structure-effect mechanism investigation of kapok fiber hemostatic materials from agricultural crops via wettability regulation strategy

To address the clinical challenges of conventional cotton gauze (CG), including inadequate hemostatic performance and strong blood clot adhesion, which impeded dressing removal, this study developed hydrophilic kapok fiber gauze (H-KG) and Janus kapok fiber gauze (J-KG) via hydroentanglement and chemical modification of natural kapok fibers. Results demonstrated that the kapok-based gauze significantly reduced blood loss and hemostatic time compared to CG, indicating superior hemostatic efficacy. Additionally, J-KG leveraged asymmetric wettability to prevent blood clot accumulation at the wound-dressing interface, enabling facile dressing removal. This work proposed, for the first time, the hemostatic mechanism of kapok fibers: axially aligned hollow cavities, thin-walled mesopores, and nanoscale grooves collectively generate multiscale capillary forces, forming a three-dimensionally interconnected fluid transport network, which spatially confined and enriched coagulation components through size-sieving effects, thereby accelerating the coagulation cascade. The study pioneered the high-value biomedical application of kapok fiber—a traditional economic crop—as advanced hemostatic gauze.