Versatile Antibacterial Materials: An Emerging Arsenal for Combatting Bacterial Pathogens

TLDR

Antibacterial materials that prevent infections and reduce virulence have attracted scientific interest, yet traditional bactericidal polymers often lack biocompatibility and biosafety, prompting recent efforts to develop multifunctional materials for medical devices and public hygiene products. This review highlights recent advances in multifunctional antibacterial materials that combine kill‑and‑release, hemocompatibility, cell‑proliferation promotion, and coagulation‑promoting abilities for wound dressing. The authors discuss how these multifunctional materials are engineered to deliver antibacterial activity while simultaneously supporting blood compatibility, cell growth, and clot formation. They also outline the remaining challenges that must be addressed to advance multifunctional antibacterial materials.

Abstract

Abstract Antibacterial materials that prevent bacterial infections and mitigate bacterial virulence have attracted great scientific interests. In recent decades, the bactericidal polymers have been presented as promising candidates to combat bacterial pathogens, mainly based on the construction of bactericidal cationic polymers, functionalization with biocidal agents, and formation of bacterial‐repelling layers. However, these established strategies have inherent disadvantages because they often overlook important features such as their biocompatibility and biosafety, especially for biomedical applications. In recent years, many efforts have been made focusing on the development of multifunctional antibacterial materials to meet the elaborate requirements for medical devices and public hygiene products. Herein the recent advances in developing multifunctional materials for their antibacterial activities together with other functions including “kill‐and‐release” capability, hemocompatibility, cell proliferation promoting properties, and coagulation promoting ability for wound dressing are highlighted. In addition, the outlooks on the remaining challenges that should be addressed in the field of multifunctional antibacterial materials are also described.