Emerging role and potential of lignin in antibacterial hydrogel applications for wound healing: A review

Bacterial infections remain a major public health concern, highlighting the need for effective antimicrobial materials, especially in wound care. Antimicrobial hydrogels have emerged as promising solutions due to their unique properties, such as high strength, injectability, biocompatibility, and the ability to control drug release. Recently, lignin, as an abundant and renewable biomass component, has shown great potential in biomedicine due to its unique bioactivity, good biocompatibility, and designable structure. Considering the significant progress of lignin-containing antimicrobial hydrogels for wound healing, this article attempts to review the cutting-edge research on various types of lignin-containing antimicrobial hydrogels aiming to provide a deeper understanding of the structure-property-function correlation and the antibacterial mechanism of these hydrogels. The structural characteristics of lignin and hydrogels endow them with multifunctionality, enabling their application as wound dressings. This demonstrates the complete chain of logic from structural design to performance modulation to application. The prospects of lignin-containing hydrogels for monitoring wound dynamically, broadening the antibacterial spectrum, measuring and controlling antibacterial efficacy, expanding the application range, and promoting clinical safety are also highlighted. The integration of these advancements can address the evolving challenges in wound care, making lignin-containing hydrogels a promising solution for next-generation wound dressings.