Hydrophobic aerogel-modified hemostatic gauze with thermal management performance

Xiaoli Jia; Chao Hua; Fengbo Yang; Xiaoxiao Li; Peng Zhao; Feifan Zhou; Yichi Lu; Hao Liang; Malcolm Xing; Guozhong Lyu

doi:10.1016/j.bioactmat.2023.02.017

Hydrophobic aerogel-modified hemostatic gauze with thermal management performance

Bioact Mater. 2023 Feb 28:26:142-158. doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2023.02.017. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Xiaoli Jia^{1

2

3}, Chao Hua^{1

4}, Fengbo Yang^{1

2}, Xiaoxiao Li⁵, Peng Zhao¹, Feifan Zhou⁴, Yichi Lu², Hao Liang⁶, Malcolm Xing³, Guozhong Lyu^{1

2

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education for Wound Repair Technology, Jiangnan University, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214000, China.
² Wuxi School of Medicine, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214000, China.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, R3T 2N2, Canada.
⁴ Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong, 226019, China.
⁵ Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023, China.
⁶ Changhai Clinical Research Unit, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, China.

Abstract

Current hemostatic agents or dressings are not efficient under extremely hot and cold environments due to deterioration of active ingredients, water evaporation and ice crystal growth. To address these challenges, we engineered a biocompatible hemostatic system with thermoregulatory properties for harsh conditions by combining the asymmetric wetting nano-silica aerogel coated-gauze (AWNSA@G) with a layer-by-layer (LBL) structure. Our AWNSA@G was a dressing with a tunable wettability prepared by spraying the hydrophobic nano-silica aerogel onto the gauze from different distances. The hemostatic time and blood loss of the AWNSA@G were 5.1 and 6.9 times lower than normal gauze in rat's injured femoral artery model. Moreover, the modified gauze was torn off after hemostasis without rebleeding, approximately 23.8 times of peak peeling force lower than normal gauze. For the LBL structure, consisting of the nano-silica aerogel layer and a n-octadecane phase change material layer, in both hot (70 °C) and cold (-27 °C) environments, exhibited dual-functional thermal management and maintained a stable internal temperature. We further verified our composite presented superior blood coagulation effect in extreme environments due to the LBL structure, the pro-coagulant properties of nano-silica aerogel and unidirectional fluid pumping of AWNSA@G. Our work, therefore, shows great hemostasis potential under normal and extreme temperature environments.

Keywords: Harsh environments; Hydrophobic hemostasis; Hydrophobic methyl modified nano-silica aerogel; Thermal management; Unidirectional fluid pumping.