Cu-Intercalated MoS₂ Nanosheets with Enhanced Antibacterial Activity for Treatment of Bacterial Keratitis

Bacterial keratitis (BK) is a critical and sight-threatening corneal infection that significantly impairs the quality of life. Due to the widespread antibiotic-resistant microbes and the slow development in antibiotics, there is an increasingly growing demand to create new antimicrobial agents for the treatment of BK. Herein, copper-intercalated molybdenum disulfide (Cu-MoS₂) nanosheets are constructed by intercalating Cu into the interlayer structure of MoS₂ via intercalation chemistry, which not only introduces the Fenton reaction but also modulates the electronic structure of MoS₂. Cu-MoS₂ can convert H₂O₂ into more toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby exhibiting excellent bactericidal performance against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) at room temperature in the dark. Animal experiments indicated that Cu-MoS₂ can effectively treat BK caused by MRSA. This work demonstrates that intercalation chemistry as a novel and effective strategy to tune MoS₂ as the antibacterial agent with no reliance on light that has great potential therapeutic effects on clinical drug-resistant BK.