Composite Hydrogels towards Next-Generation Functional Materials and Devices

Dear Colleagues, 

Hydrogels are a unique class of functional materials that possess three-dimensional polymeric networks and contain a large amount of water; such special structure and property endow the hydrogels with great potentials in numerous applications, including chemical and biomedical engineering, electronics, energy storage and conversion, water purification and collection, adhesives, actuators, and so on.  Even though pristine hydrogels usually exhibit weak strength and have limited functionalities; they can be readily combined with a variety of other polymers and additives to make composite hydrogels so as to deliver many desired properties. For instance, double-network polymers have been exploited in hydrogels for desired toughness and strength; hydrogels with adhesive moieties are being actively developed for wet adhesives; furthermore, hydrogels in combination with conductive fillers, such as metal nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, conductive polymers, have been actively investigated for the development of sensors, supercapacitors, wearable/implantable electronics and many other functional devices. 

Recognizing the importance and growing interests in composite hydrogels, we would like to invite you to submit your original work (a communication or a full paper) or a review article to this Special Issue. The topics of interest include but are not limited to biomedical hydrogels, conductive hydrogels, hydrogels for energy storage, sustainable hydrogels, hydrogel adhesives, hydrogel actuators, etc. All contributions on the design principles, chemistry, characterization, morphology, multifunctional properties, simulation and modeling relative to composite hydrogels, as well as those focused on the development of hydrogel-based or hydrogel-related functional materials and devices are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Boxin Zhao
Prof. Dr. Bruce P. Lee
Prof. Dr. Wei Zhang
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. 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 2700 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.