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Introduction to Hydrogels

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Biomedical Applications of Hydrogels Handbook

Abstract

Hydrogels are a class of crosslinked polymers that, due to their hydrophilic nature, can absorb large quantities of water. These materials uniquely offer moderate-to-high physical, chemical, and mechanical stability in their swollen state. The structure of a hydrogels can be designed for a specific application by selecting proper starting materials and processing techniques. Since the equilibrium swelling capacity of a hydrogels is a balance between swelling and elastic forces, hydrogels with different swelling capacities can be designed by modulating the contribution of individual forces. Certain hydrogels respond to the changes in environmental factors by altering their swelling behavior. This chapter explains the evolution of hydrogels as a new class of the crosslinked polymers, the hydrogels structures, swelling forces, swelling kinetics, types of water in a swollen hydrogels, and composite properties of hydrogels materials.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Pharmacy, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

    Hossein Omidian

  2. Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Pharmaceutics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Kinam Park

Authors
  1. Hossein Omidian
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  2. Kinam Park
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hossein Omidian .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, 23284, Virgin Islands, USA

    Raphael M. Ottenbrite

  2. Dept. Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, 47907-1296, Indiana, USA

    Kinam Park

  3. Tokyo Women's Medical College, Kawada-cho Ichigaya 8-1, Tokyo, 162-8666, Japan

    Teruo Okano

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Omidian, H., Park, K. (2010). Introduction to Hydrogels. In: Ottenbrite, R., Park, K., Okano, T. (eds) Biomedical Applications of Hydrogels Handbook. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5919-5_1

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