Multifunctional Wound Dressings Based on Biopolymers for Chronic Wound Healing

Chronic wound management is an enormous challenge worldwide, resulting in a significant financial burden on the government. Among the treatment strategies for chronic wounds, wound dressings are a key component of the management and healing process. Conventional wound dressings are monofunctional and frequently demonstrate clinical limitations, including tissue adhesion issues and poor microenvironment regulation. In contrast, emerging innovative dressings represent a paradigm shift through their stimuli-responsive architectures that enable the real-time monitoring of wound parameters and adaptive therapeutic interventions. In particular, multifunctional wound dressings (typically as hydrogels and nanofibers) based on biopolymers have attracted much attention for chronic wound treatment. Several reviews on functional wound dressings for the treatment of chronic wounds have been published, usually devoted to a specific type of material (e.g., chitosan) or a single function (e.g., antimicrobial). However, an up-to-date review of multifunctional wound dressings based on nanostructured biopolymers (typically as hydrogels and nanofibers) is still lacking. This review highlights the latest advances since 2020, delving into the integrated design strategies, unique action mechanisms, and specific applications of these dressings in accelerating chronic wound healing. It also examines current research challenges and outlines future directions, aiming to provide insights that advance the clinical translation of next-generation, smart wound dressings.