A silver metal–organic cage with antibacterial activity for wound healing

Bacterial infection is one of the most threatening diseases in humans and can result in tissue necrosis, inflammation, and so on. Although a large number of antibacterial materials have been developed, there are still some disadvantages in this field, including decreasing antibacterial activity in the aqueous solution or a short duration of time. Herein, a metal–organic cage named Ag-TBI-TPE with excellent antibacterial activity was prepared and applied in wound healing. Owing to the photosensitive production of the toxic ROS species and the positive charge of the surface, the Ag-TBI-TPE cage exhibits high antibacterial activity, especially under UV irradiation. It could accelerate the healing process of the infected wounds in vivo with satisfactory biocompatibility and bio-safety. The results indicated that after treatment with the Ag-TBI-TPE cage, with and without UV irradiation, the healing rates of wounds infected by E. coli and S. aureus were 89.59% and 93.05%, and 83.48% and 90.84%, respectively, which were much higher than those shown by the positive control group at 51.38% and 67.74%, respectively. This study not only sheds light on a design idea for a new antibacterial material but also further expands the potential application field of metal–organic cages.