Over the past century, gels have emerged as effective materials for an immense variety of applications. The unique network structure of gels enables very high levels of hydrophilicity and biocompatibility, while at the same time exhibiting the soft physical properties associated with living tissue, making them ideal biomaterials. Stimuli-responsive hydrogels have been especially impactful, allowing for unprecedented levels of control over material properties in response to external cues. This enhanced control has enabled groundbreaking advances in healthcare, allowing for more effective treatment of a vast array of diseases and improved approaches for tissue engineering and wound healing. Here, we identify and discuss the multitude of response modalities that have been developed, including temperature, pH, chemical, light, electro, and shear-sensitive hydrogels. We discuss recent modeling efforts of gel swelling in gels with Gausssian or non-Gaussian chain desitribution, cationic or anionic behavior, presence of larger tie-junctions, multifunctionality, etc. We summarize ionic gel properties and the mechanisms used to create these responses, highlighting both the pioneering and most recent work in all of these fields. Finally, we address current and proposed applications of these hydrogels in medicine and industrial settings.

Advances in theory and applications of stimuli-responsive and recognitive gels

256th National Meeting (2018)

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