The development of silk fibroin hydrogels with a suitable gelation rate and mechanical strength, as well as multifunctional properties including injectability, antibacterial activity, and adhesiveness, is of importance for wound healing and skin infection treatment, yet their design remains challenging. Herein, a multifunctional hydrogel from silk fibroin and tannic acid is developed, relying on the favorable interactions between them. The hybrid hydrogel (SF-TA) exhibits numerous advantages, such as short gelation time, low gelation concentrations, good adhesiveness, and shear-thinning and self-recovery properties. Moreover, the incorporation of tannic acid endows the hybrid hydrogel with remarkable bioactivity, including antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, beneficial to improving wound healing. In vivo experiments verify that the designed hybrid hydrogel can significantly accelerate the wound healing process in a full-thickness skin defect model on mice.
Keywords: antibacterial; hydrogel; self-assembly; silk fibroin; tannic acid.