Abstract

Uncontrollable bleeding and bacterial infection are the two major challenges in treating hemorrhaging civilian and military traumas. Herein, a novel hemostatic material was designed by in situ growth of zinc imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-8) into a chitin sponge (CTS) for effective hemostasis and anti-infection. ZIF-8 nanocrystals were not only uniformly dispersed throughout the CTS but also firmly anchored onto CTS with a residual mass of over 94% after 10 min of sonication. The resultant composite sponge (ZIF-8–CTS) displayed a hierarchically porous structure with a high specific surface area (∼126.2 m2·g–1) and super-hydrophilicity, accelerating blood absorption to concentrate blood cells and platelets to form a primary blood clot. Meanwhile, upon contact with blood, ZIF-8 nanocrystals could gradually release Zn2+ to activate the blood coagulation cascade reactions. Benefiting from these two synergistic effects, ZIF-8–CTS exhibited superior hemostasis performance than the traditional hemostatic materials (cotton gauze and gelatin sponge) in the rat femoral artery and liver injury models. Furthermore, it displayed excellent cytocompatibility and hemocompatibility. Importantly, it had an outstanding bactericidal effect with antibacterial ratio of up to 100% for Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus. These results demonstrated that ZIF-8–CTS is an excellent antibacterial hemostatic material with a high potential in clinical applications.