A ROS reservoir based on a polyoxometalate and metal-organic framework hybrid for efficient bacteria eradication and wound healing

Infections by bacteria always post significant challenges to global human health. Recent developed non-antibiotic treatment, such as using metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) to kill bacteria by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) represents a promising strategy. However, drawbacks including low efficiencies of ROS generation and high concentrations of toxic metal ions released always exist. We have creatively designed a robust polyoxometalate (POM) and MOF hybrid (denoted as CuPOM-MOF@S) that functions as an efficient catalytic reservoir for cascaded generation of ROS (mainly ·OH) from H2O2 thus eradicating bacteria and enhancing wound healing at an administration dosage as low as 5 μg∙mL−1. The remarkable antibacterial capability surpasses those for most MOF-based materials reported thus far, which is mainly attributed to the reservation of massive catalytic copper ions, the synergistic effect regarding catalytic activity between MOFs and Keggin-type POMs as well as its bacteria-capturing ability by the coated surfactants. Its biological safety is investigated and confirmed by cell cytotoxicity and body weight assessment. This work presents a prospective strategy towards cascaded ROS generation by combining inorganic catalytic POMs with MOFs thus for multiple biomedical applications including treating bacterial infections and cancer as well as inducing biological signal responses.