A trolamine-enabled shape-morphing poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel with adaptive adhesion and therapeutic function for...

Burn injuries are commonly treated using wound dressings; however, conventional materials often suffer from inadequate adhesion control, poor adaptability to irregular wounds, and secondary tissue damage during removal. Thus, this study reports a multifunctional hydrogel burn wound dressing composed of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), borax, tannic acid (TA), trolamine (TrA), and xylitol (Xyl), designed to address these clinical challenges through interfacial and physicochemical modulation. Dynamic borate-diol crosslinks between PVA and borax confer the hydrogel with rapid self-healing behavior and ionic conductivity comparable to that of human skin (113.8 mS/m), enabling potential bioelectrical signal transmission. TA provides antioxidant and antibacterial activity, while TrA serves as a functional modulator that counteracts TA-induced over-adhesion and restores handling-level morphological stability, yielding a balanced adhesive strength of 126.2 kPa. Meanwhile, the incorporation of Xyl further enhances cooling, reducing skin temperature by up to 7 °C to alleviate burn-associated discomfort. The hydrogel exhibited sustained TrA release, reaching approximately 80 % cumulative release within 24 h. In a rat burn wound model, the optimized hydrogel achieved a wound closure rate of ∼94.7 % at day 14 and could be easily removed from the wound site under running water, leaving no residue and without damaging newly formed tissue. These results demonstrate that the proposed hydrogel integrates dynamic biointerfaces, controlled adhesion, and therapeutic functionality, highlighting the potential of this hydrogel as a clinically practical burn wound dressing.