Biopolymer-Based Hydrogel Materials: Opportunities and Challenges
A special issue of Journal of Functional Biomaterials (ISSN 2079-4983).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 5605
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Hydrogels are networks of polymer chains bridged by covalent cross-links and physical bonds. These materials swell strongly in aqueous solutions (due to the hydrophilic nature of chains) but preserve their structural integrity due to the presence to permanent links between chains. Unlike many synthetic gels, natural polymer-based gels are ecofriendly, nontoxic, biocompatible, biodegradable, responsive to biological stimuli, accessible through renewable resources, recyclable, easily processable, and potentially low-cost. These properties make them attractive for applications in drug delivery, tissue regeneration, bio-nanotechnology, catalysis, packaging, food industry, agriculture, bioelectronics, and energy storage.
Biopolymer-based gels differ substantially from their synthetic counterparts in terms of the structure of chains (semi-flexible peptide bundles versus flexible chains), types of cross-links (ionic cross-linking of polysaccharides, enzymatic cross-linking of peptides, formation of protein complexes), self-organization (development of supramolecular structures via self-assembly), and response to external stimuli (thermotropic phase transitions in protein–lipid bio-membranes). These features open an opportunity for the engineering of nano-, micro-, and macro-gels with enhanced mechanical properties and novel functionalities: multi-stimuli-responsiveness, molecular recognition, and cell adhesion.
This Special Issue focuses on design and preparation methods for stimuli-responsive biopolymer nanogels and macroscopic gels, theoretical and experimental analysis of their properties and interactions with cells and biological tissues, correlations between the microstructure of biopolymer gels and their mechanical and physical properties, as well as novel areas of applications for these materials.
Prof. Dr. Aleksey D. Drozdov
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- stimuli-responsive biopolymer gels
- supramolecular biopolymer gels
- degradable biopolymer matrices
- self-assembling of proteins
- injectable and self-healing biopolymer gels
- bio-adhesive gels
- interactions between cells and biopolymer gels
- applications of biopolymer gels