Enhanced photocatalytic and photothermal properties of ecofriendly metal-organic framework heterojunction for rapid sterilization

Abstract Injured tissues are susceptible to infections that suppress wound healing. Rapid and safe sterilization is therefore urgent for bacteria-infected wounds, especially under harsh conditions without antibiotic availability. In this work, we developed a photoresponsive metal-organic framework (MOF) heterojunction that responds to 660 nm light irradiation. It is composed of two kinds of MOFs (Prussian blue [PB] and PCN-224), which exhibited an enhanced photocatalytic performance due to the accelerated charge transfer of the heterojunction and the fast separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs between PB and PCN-224. The combination of the enhanced photocatalytic performance and the intrinsic photothermal effect of PB endowed the MOFs heterojunction with highly effective sterilizing rates of 99.84% and 99.3% against Staphylococcus aureus and its biofilm after 660 nm light irradiation for 15 min, respectively. The iron and zirconium ions released from PB-PCN-224 composites were biocompatible and their cytotoxicity was negligible. More importantly, in vivo experiments showed that PB-PCN-224 can expedite wound healing.