Special Issue "Functional Polymer Gels for Advanced Applications in Biomedicine, Energy and Optoelectronics"
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2022) | Viewed by 18436
Special Issue Editors

Interests: polymers; gels; biomedical applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: polymers; gels; biomedical applications
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Polymer gels attract a great deal of attention in academia and industry as functional materials capable of responding to external stimuli, such as magnetic fields, temperature, pH, light, electrochemical potentials, and mechanical signals, in a well-controlled manner. Polymer gels are polymer networks crosslinked through physical or chemical bonds able to swell in a solvent. These materials present intermediate properties between those of a solid and a liquid because they combine the characteristic elasticity of solids with the diffusive properties and viscous character of a liquid. In order to enhance the properties of single-network gels, such as swelling/deswelling response or mechanical properties, composite hydrogels (multicomponent hydrogels and interpenetrating polymer networks) arise as innovative matrixes, and they can also offer multifunctionality, attributed to the intrinsic properties of each polymer. Moreover, the incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles (i.e., magnetic iron oxides, gold nanoparticles, and silver nanoparticles, among others) within the polymer gels gives rise to nanocomposite gels with additional functionalities. Progress in the design of functional gels has driven a number of advanced applications such as matrixes for drug release and tissue engineering, actuators and sensors, solid state-electrochemical devices, quasi-solid dye sensitized solar cells or electrochromic displays, to name a few.
The scope of this Special Issue is to address the recent developments and applications of functional gels, including fundamental structure/property relationship, methods of preparation (conventional methods for chemical and physical gelation of macro, micro- and nanogels and gels obtained through 3D printing and bioprinting) and modeling. Special emphasis will be placed on the development of gels for advanced applications in biomedicine, energy, and optoelectronics.
Dr. Rebeca Hernandez Velasco
Dr. Miryam Criado-Gonzalez
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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
- functional gels
- polymers
- biomedicine
- energy
- optoelectronics
- microgels
- nanogels