1 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
2 Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Timely and accurate assessment of wounds during the healing process is crucial for proper diagnosis and treatment. Conventional wound dressings lack both real-time monitoring capabilities and active therapeutic functionalities, limiting their effectiveness in dynamic wound environments. Herein, we report our proof-of-concept approach exploring the unique emission properties and antimicrobial activities of carbon nanodots (CNDs) for simultaneous detection and treatment of bacteria. This approach centers on the fabrication of well-defined CND-embedded poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) e-spun nanofibrous mats, which are crosslinked with degradable boronic ester (BE) crosslinks. The BE-CND/PVA mats exhibit stimuli-responsive degradation to pHs and hydrogen peroxide as well as pH-responsive release of CNDs. Promisingly, the mats turn out to be hemocompatible with blood and biocompatible with skin cells. Furthermore, they exhibit notable antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative bacteria and demonstrate great potential for real-time monitoring of wound pH to assess the wound status. These results suggest that BE-CND/PVA mats could significantly enhance wound healing by providing localized therapeutic action, reducing the risk of bacterial infections, and enabling non-invasive monitoring of wound progress.