A one-pot synthesis of PEGylated plasmonic WO3−x@Eugenol nanoflowers with NIR-controllable antioxidant activities for synergetically combating bacterial biofilm infection

Abstract

Serious wound infection by the colonization and development of drug-resistant bacteria has attracted widespread attention of the society with the urge for searching advanced antibacterial methods. The NIR-triggered antimicrobial photothermal therapy (PTT) using nanomaterials as energy donors has the advantage of a wide antibacterial spectrum, but it is still restricted by its low efficacy. Herein, we propose a PTT-driven bioactive molecule controllable release system (PEG-WO_3−x@EL NFs), which is developed with tungsten trioxide nanoflowers as a carrier. Benefiting from the photothermal effect of PEG-WO_3−x NFs and the inherent bactericidal properties of EL (eugenol), the nanoplatform achieves an extremely strong bactericidal ability against Salmonella and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Notably, the nanoplatform presents outstanding capacity to prevent biofilm formation. More importantly, the nanoplatform displays significant antioxidant capacity to realize the rapid recovery of infected wounds. As a consequence, our study has the potential to provide an urgent breakthrough for wound biofilm therapy.