Stimuli-Responsive Polymers: Advances and Prospects

Dear Colleagues,

Stimuli-responsive polymers are materials that can respond to the presence of, or changes in, either internal or external stimuli, such as temperature, environment pH, ionic strength, electromagnetic radiation, electric/magnetic fields, etc. In response to these stimuli, the polymer material would change its properties chemically, physically, and/or mechanically, including but not limited to shape, molecular assembly, and strength/stiffness. It can convert internal and/or external stimuli to a change in its properties that will provoke a response internally. The stimuli can be introduced at a specific time slot and/or desired spatial location, enabling one to precisely control the material property change. Furthermore, by tuning the magnitude of the stimuli, the response extent can be tweaked; thus, a tunable stimuli-responsive platform will be built up. As a more advanced platform than the simple binary switching between two states, these polymer materials are more appealing to introduce dynamic stimuli and explore their potential applications in interdisciplinary fields.

This Special Issue of Polymers will present recent developments in stimuli-responsive polymer materials and their applications in various areas, such as biochemistry with drug delivery and cell manipulation. Authors are encouraged to submit various types of articles (comprehensive reviews or research articles) that focus not only on developing novel stimuli-responsive polymer materials with precise control but also exploring their applications as a tunable platform in interdisciplinary areas.

Dr. Lei Li
Prof. Dr. Nadia Lotti
Guest Editors

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