Hybrid hydrogels with stimuli-responsive properties to electric and magnetic fields

Abstract

Hydrogels are a promising type of soft material featuring great similarity to biological tissues due to their inherent characteristics, such as high-water content, flexibility, softness, or low elastic modulus. Imparting multifunctionality to hydrogels to be triggered by external stimuli is considered to have a high potential for innovative application in the biomedical field by regulatory agencies, such as FDA and EMA. Thus, functional hybrid systems based on the combination of nanomaterials and hydrogels are a new class of materials offering new opportunities for living organ isms-machine interfacing for application in a wide variety of fields ranging from biomedical engineering to soft robotics, soft electronics, environmental or energy science. The objective of this chapter is to review the latest advances in multifunc tional hybrid hydrogels with responsiveness to electric and magnetic fields and with applications in the biomedical field.