Hemostatic kaolin-polyurethane foam composites for multifunctional wound dressing applications

• Multifunctional polyurethane foams: absorbent, drug-release, and hemostatic.
• Cytocompatible wound dressing material via non-toxic starting materials and catalyst.
• Facile incorporation of kaolin into polyurethane foam hydrogel matrix.
• Functionalities were maintained upon kaolin loading.
• Kaolin-PU composites exhibited significant hemostatic character.

There are numerous challenges associated with the acute care of traumatic limb injuries in forward military settings. A lack of immediate medical facilities necessitates that the wound dressing perform multiple tasks including exudate control, infection prevention, and physical protection of the wound for extended periods of time. Here, kaolin was incorporated into recently developed robust polyurethane (PU) hydrogel foams at 1–10 wt% in an effort to impart hemostatic character. ATR-IR and gel fraction analysis demonstrated that the facile, one-pot synthesis of the PU hydrogel was unaffected by kaolin loading, as well as the use of a non-toxic catalyst, which significantly improved cytocompatibility of the materials. Kaolin was generally well dispersed throughout the PU matrix, though higher loadings exhibited minor evidence of aggregation. Kaolin-PU composites exhibited burst release of ciprofloxacin over 2 h, the initial release rates of which increased with kaolin loading. Kaolin loading imparted excellent hemostatic character to the PU foams at relatively low loading levels (5 wt%). This work demonstrates the simple and inexpensive synthesis of robust, hemostatic, and absorptive kaolin-PU foams that have promising potential as multifunctional wound dressing materials.

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