Hydrogel surface coatings have been extensively used as support or protecting layer in food packaging and tissue engineering. Other important fields of hydrogels described in the literature are surface coatings for biocompatibilization, anti-fouling properties and lubrication of implants, stents, and other medical devices, wound dressings, as biosensor matices, and for controlled release in drug delivery.A particularly attractive approach to such thin hydrogel films employs hydrophilic polymers with photoreactive groups, which undergo interchain crosslinking upon irradiation, which transforms the soluble polymer precursors into insoluble hydrogel networks (often concomitantly with covalent surface attachment). The preparation of such photocrosslinked hydrogel networks having responsive properties, and their detailed characterization with respect to applications as biosensor matrices and biomedical surface coatings is reported.

Novel hydrogel thin film materials from photocrosslinkable polymers

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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