A microwave-conditioned MoS₂-tomato extracellular vesicle hydrogel drives photothermal-photoelectric reprogramming of chronic wounds.

Chronic diabetic wounds remain difficult to treat because the wound bed is trapped in a hostile microenvironment marked by oxidative stress, persistent inflammation, and impaired tissue remodeling. Here, we developed a microwave-conditioned gellan gum (GG) hydrogel incorporating molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) and tomato-derived extracellular vesicle-enriched fraction (tEVs) as an externally activatable platform for diabetic wound repair. The isolated tEVs showed nanoscale size uniformity, colloidal stability, and concentration-dependent radical-scavenging activity, supporting their role as a bioactive antioxidant component. After incorporation into the hydrogel, MoS₂ endowed the system with near-infrared (NIR)-responsive photothermal and photoelectric properties, while microwave processing was associated with changes in gel formation and structural stability. In a streptozotocin-induced diabetic wound model, treatment with the MoS₂/tEVs/GG hydrogel was associated with favorable trends in wound closure and gait-related functional recovery, together with improved re-epithelialization and tissue reconstruction and no overt systemic histopathological abnormalities under the tested conditions. At the tissue level, treatment was associated with reduced reactive oxygen species accumulation, increased heat shock protein expression, suppressed IL-6-associated inflammation, and promoted a shift in macrophage polarization from a CD86-dominant inflammatory phenotype toward a CD206-positive reparative phenotype. These findings suggest that this hydrogel acts as an active therapeutic interface rather than a passive dressing, providing a promising strategy for energy-coupled diabetic wound repair.