Roll-To-Roll Production of Smart Dressings for Wound Monitoring

Chronic wounds require real-time monitoring to assess wound status and prevent complications. While colorimetric sensors provide a user-friendly, equipment-free approach with visible feedback, their clinical adoption is hindered by limited scalability, poor integration with commercial dressings, and susceptibility to interference from wound exudates-factors that have largely confined existing systems to laboratory research and prevented their practical use in clinical settings. Here, the first roll-to-roll production of smart dressings at a large scale and high throughput, with colorimetric sensors for real-time and historical wound monitoring is presented. This method enables high-throughput production, achieving over 10 impressions per minute on formats up to 50 cm × 50 cm, using biocompatible inks for precise multi-layer printing. In situ testing on a 14-day mouse wound model demonstrates their ability to detect early signs of infection, validating their functionality in physiologically relevant conditions. This study addresses the manufacturability gap in colorimetric wound sensing, providing a scalable, cost-effective, and clinically translatable solution for both clinical and home use.