Hydrogels, Microgels, and Nanogels: From Fundamentals to Applications
A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 35919
Special Issue Editors
Interests: materials science; soft matter; gels; scattering techniques; spectroscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: chemical synthesis; electron transfer processes; hybrid materials for solar energy; electrochemical and biomedical applications; thin films; optical techniques
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In the preceding years, hydrogels have attracted great interest owing to their fascinating properties, attributes that have opened the possibilities of many applications in different fields.
Hydrogels are a highly versatile class of biomaterials, consisting of hydrophilic polymer networks that can be processed into bulk materials, as well as micro- or nanoparticles of both natural and synthetic origin.
Hydrogels are characterized by many fascinating properties, such as swelling, softness and sensitivity to external stimuli. Indeed, cross-linked hydrogel particles with size ranging from the nanometric to the micrometric, well known as microgels, can be tailored to achieve the desired degree of multi-functionality.
Their unique character result from their hybrid nature between polymers and colloids, leading to a rich phase behaviour that can be tuned through easily accessible control parameters. These features make microgels intriguing model colloids to explore phase transitions in complex systems, and highly attractive materials for several technological applications.
Owing to this wide variety of interesting properties, smart hydrogel-based materials have found many applications for innovative solutions in different fields, such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, agriculture, cultural heritage, sensing and biosensing.
This Special Issue focuses on experiments, simulation, synthesis methods and applications of smart hydrogels, microgels and nanogels. The topics may include synthesis methods, dynamics and structure, phase diagrams and interparticle interactions, besides their manifold applications in different fields.
Both original contributions and reviews are welcome.
Dr. Valentina Nigro
Dr. Francesca Limosani
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- hydrogels
- microgels
- polymers
- colloids
- synthesis
- characterization
- applications
- swelling
- phase behaviour
- stimuli-responsive
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