Synergistic dual-silk electronic-tattoos for self-powered transdermal drug delivery

초록

Self-powered transdermal drug delivery driven by triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is severely hindered by the limited electrical energy which is insufficient to consistently and reliably penetrate the stratum corneum (SC) skin barrier. We report a dual-silk electronic tattoo (DUET), that overcomes this bottleneck by combining biochemical barrier pre-relaxation with active electrical stimulation. In DUET, highly hydrophilic silk sericin (2.0 wt%) is employed as a passive permeation enhancer, rapidly hydrating the SC and facilitate molecular transport, increasing the passive penetration depth of 10 kDa dextran from 83.11 ± 26.08–190.44 ± 25.84 μm. Furthermore, we engineered a breathable skin patch comprising a cellulose nanofiber base, a silver nanowire conduction network, and a silk fibroin nanofiber drug reservoir. Under externally applied voltage, the DUET generated controlled Joule heating, and its combination with sericin pretreatment on pigskin increased Rhodamine B diffusion to 242.21 ± 23.78 μm, corresponding to a 3.37-fold enhancement. Separately, integration with a wearable TENG enabled self-powered delivery through mechanically generated transient electrical pulses, resulting diffusion up to 187.30 ± 14.79 μm after 7200 tapping cycles in sericin-treated skin. These results demonstrate a dual-silk platform that integrates skin-barrier modulation, fibroin-based drug storage, and self-powered electrical stimulation for non-invasive transdermal drug delivery.

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