Graphene Oxide Composite Fibres for Therapeutic Fabrics

Topical administration of various therapeutic factors at different stages of healing has the potential to enhance wound healing rates and reduce pain of chronic wounds. Here, the potential of utilising therapeutic fibres as wound dressings and/or sutures, is demonstrated by wet-spinning graphene oxide (GO) and aspirin adsorbed GO with polyvinyl alcohol, into drug eluting composite fibres. By varying the load of GO in the composite fibres it was possible to tailor strength, stiffness and stretchability. GO loadings of 5 wt.% resulted in fibres five times stronger than polyvinyl alcohol alone. Low loadings of GO 0.2–0.4 wt.% produced super-stretchable fibres. The drug loaded composite fibres exhibited a slow release of aspirin over a period of 3 d which is attributed to the π–π interactions between the GO and aspirin. These composite fibres demonstrate promise for incorporating other biological factors using GO as a vector, as well as creating textiles that can deliver therapeutics in a sustained manner, leading to flexible wearable therapeutics and sutures in the future.