The development of finely-tuned materials that adjust in a predictable manner by specific environment change is the recent arena of materials research. It is a newly emerging supra-disciplinary field with huge commercial potential. Stimuli-responsive materials answer by a considerable change in their properties to small changes in their environment. Responsive materials are becoming increasingly more prevalent as scientists learn about the chemistry and triggers that induce conformational changes in materials structures and devise ways to take advantage of and control them. Responsive Materials and Method offers state-of-the-art of the stimuli-responsive materials and their potential applications. This collection brings together novel methodologies and strategies adopted in the research and development of responsive materials and technology.

Stimuli-responsive polymer systems can be defined as functional materials that show physical or chemical property changes in response to external stimuli such as temperature, radiation, chemical agents, pH, mechanical stress, and electric and magnetic fields. Recent developments in manufacturing techniques have facilitated the production of a wide range of stimuli-responsive polymer systems, such as micro- and nanoscale structures, with potential applications in soft sensors and actuators, smart textiles, soft robots, and artificial muscles. This book brings together the recent progress in manufacturing techniques, with particular emphasis on 3D and 4D printing and applications of stimuli-responsive polymer systems in biomedicine and soft robotics.

This new book offers practical insights into the latest developments in responsive polymers, i.e., polymers engineered to alter structure and properties in response to environmental inputs. The book features original design, methodological, and application data. Chemists, biochemists, and electronic engineers will find here important new material to understand and characterize molecular and submolecular assemblies that enable the fabrication of switch-driven polymer systems. Beginning from basic research and moving to single-molecular design, the contributors illuminate switching in self-assembled aggregates of polymer chains. These analyses are extended to the switching/changing of macroscopic properties in bulk and thin films. The book demonstrates how the properties of responsive polymers such as morphology, wetting behavior, adhesion, roughness, permeability etc., can be modified to create and improve biomedical devices, chemical sensors, microfluidic devices, drug delivery systems, adhesion systems, and self-regulating colloids. For specialists investigating the potential of molecular and submolecular polymer design, this book is essential.

There has been concerted effort across scientific disciplines to develop artificial materials and systems that can help researchers understand natural stimuli-responsive activities. With its up-to-date coverage on intelligent stimuli-responsive materials, Intelligent Stimuli-Responsive Materials provides research, industry, and academia professionals with the fundamentals and principles of intelligent stimuli-responsive materials, with a focus on methods and applications. Emphasizing nanostructures and applications for a broad range of fields, each chapter comprehensively covers a different stimuli-responsive material and discusses its developments, advances, challenges, analytical techniques, and applications.

This book offers new methodologies that require the researcher to develop relationships that may enable them to intimately come to respect and know the "Other" with whom they seek to study.

Surface modification of biomaterials can ultimately determine whether a material is accepted or rejected from the human body, and a responsive surface can further make the material "smart" and "intelligent". Switchable and Responsive Surfaces and Materials for Biomedical Applications outlines synthetic and biological materials that are responsive under different stimuli, their surface design and modification techniques, and applicability in regenerative medicine/tissue engineering, drug delivery, medical devices, and biomedical diagnostics. Part one provides a detailed overview of switchable and responsive materials and surfaces, exploring thermo-responsive polymers, environmentally responsive polyelectrolytes and zwitterionic polymers, as well as peptide-based and photonic sensitive switchable materials. Further chapters include a detailed overview of the preparation and analysis of switchable polymer brushes and copolymers for biomedical application. Part two explores the biological interactions and biomedical applications of switchable surfaces, where expert analysis is provided on the interaction of switchable surfaces with proteins and cells. The interaction of stimuli-sensitive polymers for tissue engineering and drug delivery with biosurfaces is critiqued, whilst the editor provides a skillful study into the application of responsive polymers in implantable medical devices and biosensors. A comprehensive overview of switchable and responsive materials and surfaces Includes in depth analysis of thermo-responsive polymers, photonic sensitive materials and peptide-based surfaces Detailed exploration of biological interactions of responsive and switchable surfaces, covering stimuli-sensitive polymers for drug delivery, surfaces with proteins/cells and application of polymers in medical devices

This book provides an application-oriented approach for pH responsive membranes and types of stimuli-responsive membranes and their applications in the biomedical field including initial development and recent use. It explains types, modes, and modification methods of membranes, along with membrane usage in applications such as drug delivery, hemodialysis, chemical sensing, and so forth. pH Responsive Membranes: Biomedical Applications explores recent research carried out in the area as well as the future outlook, and provides deeper insight for readers on the subject, ranging from the basics to advanced levels on the topic. Features Describes preparation, characterization, and applications of pH responsive membranes in biomedical applications Introduces theoretical understanding of pH responsiveness Covers development of advanced techniques regarding pH responsive membranes Provides insight into development of new materials and membranes Discusses advancements in drug delivery, hemodialysis, antibodies and enzyme production, chemical sensing, and selective ionic transport using pH responsive membranes This book is aimed at graduate students and researchers involved in membrane and chemical engineering/polymer exploration, and medical researchers.