Gelling together

• Main Author: Mohd Zaki, Syazwani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Materials, Minerals and Minings (IOM3) 2024
• Subjects: T175 Industrial research. Research and development
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/112691/1/112691_Gelling%20together.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/112691/; https://www.iom3.org/resource/gelling-together-hydrogel-polymers.html

Exploring hydrogel polymers in healthcare. Hydrogel polymers have key characteristics that make them significant materials in modern medicine. These include biocompatibility, water absorption and retention, flexibility, swelling behaviour and stimuli responsiveness, which have brought intriguing breakthroughs to biomedical applications. Hydrogels are 3D structures that are filled with water and formed through physicochemical processes, which cause the initial components to form interconnected networks. They can be produced through various techniques such as polymerisation and parallel crosslinking of multifunctional monomers, along with multiple-step methods that involve synthesising polymer molecules with reactive groups to form crosslinks in the presence of low-molecular-weight crosslinking agents. The robust interlinked structures prevent the entire system from dissolving, despite their tremendous attraction to water.