Applications of Hydrogels

Progress in the theory and advances in practical applications of hydrogels are to a great extent determined by experimental study of their swelling and elasticity. However, investigating SAH is rather complicated because most of the available techniques are adapted mainly to highly crosslinked gels. 

One of the most recent developments in the application of hydrogels have been in the field of microfluidics and microsensors. Peppas et al. (Bashir et al., 2002 Hilt et al., 2002) have successfully composed a... 

Peppas, N. A. Other biomedical applications of hydrogels, in N. A. Peppas, Ed. Hydrogels in Medicine and Pharmacy, pp. 177-194. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1986. 

Ratner, B. Biomedical applications of hydrogels Critical appraisal and review, in D. F. Williams, Ed. Biocompatibility of Clinical Implant Materials, pp. 145-153. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1981. 

Applications of hydrogels include highly absorbent diapers based on poly(sodium acrylate), contact lenses based on poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (polyHEMA), and switches based on variations of swelling of the hydrogels. A number of drug delivery systems have also been based on hydrogels. 

The first application developed for smart hydrogels was somewhat mundane. They were used as a liner for golf shoes and in-line skates that takes the shape of the wearer s foot as the result of heat released by the foot, but researchers have envisioned a much broader and more significant number and variety of applications for such materials. Proposed applications include optical shutters actuators and sensors for chemical, heat, and electrical systems valves chemical memory systems fluid switches absorbents for chemical and petroleum spills diapers cosmetics and desalination systems. Thus far, however, the greatest interest has been in biomedical applications of hydrogels. 

Applications of hydrogel family to other enzyme biosensors... 

The advent of nanotechnology has provided new avenues for engineering materials in nano- and microscales. In recent years, there have been extensive studies on potential applications of hydrogels in... 

And finally, the very promising application of hydrogels as cushions but also as protective coatings for the tethered membrane architectures, eventually allowing even for operations in air, is presented and discussed. 

Many applications of hydrogels need a patterned layer on a substrate. Different techniques were used for patterning in different regions of dimension (Table 2). 

The diffusion of a low-molecular- weight compound into a network is of great importance for the application of hydrogels, e.g., as dmg release system or as sensor material. The volume phase transition can be induced by a change of the composition of the swelling agent at constant temperature. Figure 26 shows a... 

In this chapter, the focus is laid on biosensor principles and a short introduction into hydrogels as immobilization matrix for enzymes is given. Measurement methods for investigating the long-term stability of used enzymes will be presented and finally smart applications of hydrogels combining sensor and therapeutic attributes will be discussed. 

Lydrogels are water-swellable, three-dimensional polymeric networks. Interest in hydrogels has increased in the past several years as new applications have been discovered (i). The capacity of the hydrogels to absorb water is enormous and can be as much as 1000 times the weight of the polymer. For this reason, hydrogels are used in many fields. Some of the applications of hydrogels are... 

The applications of hydrogels formed by wormlike micelles are still in development however, it may be expected, after extensive testing of their cytotoxicity, that they could be used as artificial extracellular matrices [167]. Stimuli-responsive gels that can assemble and disassemble on demand when an external trigger is applied (e.g., change in temperature) are particularly interesting because... 

R.M. Ottenbrite, K. Park, T. Okano, NA. Peppas (Eds.), Biomedical Applications of Hydrogels Handbook, Springer, NewYork, 2010. 

The applications of hydrogels in the production of medical items, resulting materials must have several features, which recommends them non-toxicity, functionability, sterilizability, biocompatibUity [115]. These characteristics are requires for wound dressings, drug delivery systems, transdermal systems, injectable polymers, implants, dental and ophthalmic applications, stimuli-responsive systems, hydrogel hybrid-type organs. 

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