Advances in Functional Gel (4th Edition)
A Special Issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861) belonging to the section "Gel Chemistry and Physics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 March 2027 | Viewed by 1187
Editors
Interests: materials chemistry; green chemistry; nanotechnology; environmental remediation; advanced materials; functional coating; colloidal nanoparticles; smart and hi-tech textiles; (waste) water treatment; multifunctional hybrid materials and nanocomposites; bio-based blended polymers; sol-gel technique
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: material chemistry; nanotechnology; sol–gel chemistry; polymer science; Hi-tech textiles; functional coatings; sustainability; stimuli-responsive polymers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: materials chemistry; hybrid materials; green chemistry; nanotechnology; water remediation; advanced materials; functional membranes; stimuli-responsive polymers; functional systems; high-performance textiles; smart coatings; sustainability; gel polymer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In recent years, due to the increasing demand for sustainability, environmental protection, and pollution prevention in modern society, there has been a growing global need for more efficient, eco-friendly, and long-life materials.
Within this framework, it is necessary to investigate a range of strategies that can help in the transition towards a circular economy, including the following:
- Reducing primary raw-material consumption, fossil-based reagents and waste production;
- Developing cost-effective multifunctional products that can reduce pollution by decreasing the number of products in our everyday life;
- Improving the maintenance of product performance over time by improving resistance to external agents and wear from end users, thereby extending the product life cycle.
Using this reasoning, recent studies in materials chemistry have increasingly focused on the development of innovative and smart (multi)functional gel-based materials, which exhibit a wide range of valuable properties for applications across biomedical, sensing, textile, catalysis, construction, cultural heritage, blue growth, automotive, and environmental industrial sectors.
Additionally, nanotechnology has been shown to be a determinant in the rational design of these novel functional nanostructured gel formulations, leading to advanced nano-hybrid or nanocomposite gels, which are also useful as coatings for the implementation of beneficial surface properties, such as anti-vegetative, antibacterial, hydrophobic, anti-stain, fire-retardant, controlled drug release, molecule detection, protection, or mechanical resistance properties.
In this regard, gel technologies are receiving considerable attention for the design and development of functional hybrid organic and inorganic systems. These systems are based on host (or blended) polymeric matrices and opportune functional nanofillers, offering advantages such as low process temperature, no cytotoxicity, high final-product homogeneity, the absence of hazardous solvents, high versatility, and stable binding to functional molecules or surfaces.
Furthermore, green and eco-friendly gel-based synthetic protocols can be established in combination with naturally derived polymers and bio-based or secondary raw materials, thereby resulting in new eco-friendly products that can be recycled and re-used.
Dr. Maria Rosaria Plutino
Dr. Silvia Sfameni
Dr. Giulia Rando
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- smart gel systems
- nanohybrid gels
- nanocomposite gels
- innovative advanced gels
- bio-based gel materials
- sol–gel technique
- functional gel coatings
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Related Special Issues
- Advances in Functional Gel in Gels (17 articles)
- Advances in Functional Gel (2nd Edition) in Gels (9 articles)
- Advances in Functional Gel (3rd Edition) in Gels (6 articles)
