Work

Formulation‐Driven Design of Antimicrobial Hydrogel Wound Patches 3D‐Printed by Digital Light Processing: Mapping Polysaccharide and Nanoparticle Effects

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Wound dressings must balance antimicrobial efficacy with the printability limits imposed by nanoparticle‐mediated ultraviolet attenuation during digital light processing 3D printing. Here, we develop process–structure–property relationships for poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA)‐based hydrogel wound patches containing Ag/ZnO‐derived antimicrobial phases and polysaccharide/cellulose modifiers (cellulose nanofibrils, chitosan, or alginate). Beer–Lambert analysis shows that nanoparticle loading reduces optical penetration depth at 405 nm to 1.04‐1.28 mm, narrowing the usable curing margin so that radiant exposure exceeds the critical energy by only 4%–5%. Flory–Rehner analysis of swelling reveals formulation‐dependent crosslink density: alginate lowers effective crosslink density by 45% vs. neat PEGDA and increases mesh size from 0.42 to 0.60 nm. This network loosening drives 1.5× variation in water vapor transmission rate (WVTR; 346–518 g·m − 2 ·day − 1 ) and a 7× range in wettability (11.5°–81.1°). Two‐way factorial analysis identifies polysaccharide type as the dominant driver of swelling (87.5% of variance) and antimicrobial efficacy (>50%), while nanoparticle type controls contact angle (60.1%) and WVTR (76.9%). The Ag + chitosan formulation (S5) achieves 23–24 mm inhibition zones against Escherichia coli and Bacillus sp. via chitosan‐facilitated Ag + diffusion plus intrinsic contact‐killing. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy confirms cumulative Ag + release (32.7 mg·L − 1 over 14 days), while Zn 2 + remains immobilized below detection.

Source: Advanced Healthcare Materials

DOI: 10.1002/adhm.71948