Recent Advances in the Synthesis and Biomedical Applications of Nanocomposite Hydrogels

Pharmaceutics

Umile Gianfranco Spizzirri¹  Manuela Curcio¹  Giuseppe Cirillo¹  Tania Spataro¹  Orazio Vittorio²  Nevio Picci¹  Silke Hampel³  Francesca Iemma¹  Fiore Pasquale Nicoletta¹ 

[1] Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, I-87036 Rende, Italy; E-Mails:;Children’s Cancer Institute Australia, Lowy Cancer Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, Australia; E-Mail:;Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, PF 270116, D-01171 Dresden, Germany; E-Mail:

关键词: carbon nanotubes;    graphene;    composite hydrogels;    electro-responsive;   

DOI  :  10.3390/pharmaceutics7040413

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Hydrogels sensitive to electric current are usually made of polyelectrolytes and undergo erosion, swelling, de-swelling or bending in the presence of an applied electric field. The electrical conductivity of many polymeric materials used for the fabrication of biomedical devices is not high enough to achieve an effective modulation of the functional properties, and thus, the incorporation of conducting materials (e.g., carbon nanotubes and nanographene oxide) was proposed as a valuable approach to overcome this limitation. By coupling the biological and chemical features of both natural and synthetic polymers with the favourable properties of carbon nanostructures (e.g., cellular uptake, electromagnetic and magnetic behaviour), it is possible to produce highly versatile and effective nanocomposite materials. In the present review, the recent advances in the synthesis and biomedical applications of electro-responsive nanocomposite hydrogels are discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.