Hydrophobic carbon/bamboo-like carbon nanotube supported Fe/Co nanocomposites with antibacterial activity for wound healing.

The development of novel nanozymes with excellent enzyme simulation ability provides a new perspective for antibacterial and wound healing. However, the enzyme activity of traditional simplex nanozyme is not sufficient, meanwhile the nanozymic catalytic therapy alone cannot fulfill the purpose of effective antibacterial and wound healing. Hence, we develop novel multifunctional nanocomposites composed of FeCo alloys integrate with carbon spheres and carbon nanotubes (FeCo-C/CNT NCs) with hydrophobic property, enhanced oxidase-like (OXD-like) activity and photothermal property. Remarkably, in vitro experiment shows the antibacterial rates of 200 μg/mL FeCo-C/CNT NCs against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) are as high as 83.46 % and 90.98 %, respectively. The mechanism of synergistic antibacterial effect is not only due to the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation from FeCo alloy part of FeCo-C/CNT NCs, but also because the local high temperature generated by the photothermal effects of FeCo-C/CNT NCs under near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation, as well as heat promoted ROS production. The FeCo-C/CNT NCs under NIR laser irradiation present best wound healing via hydrophobic protection, synergistic catalytic and photothermal therapy on S. aureus-infected mice. This work introduces a novel alloy nanozyme with excellent antibacterial property, providing new idea in the field of wound healing.