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“Smart” Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications
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“Smart” Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 9461

Special Issue Editor

Dr. George Pasparakis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
UCL School of Pharmacy, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, UK
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

“Smart” (often referred to as “responsive”) materials are defined as materials that exhibit a sharp, and usually reversible change of their physicochemical properties (i.e., a change in shape, volume, solubility, or molecular conformation) as a result of an application of an external stimulus, such as a change in temperature or pH.

In recent years, the field of “smart” nanomaterials for biomedical applications has evolved from the basic principles of structure-to-function at the nanoscale, to intricate nanostructures and properties that find numerous uses in the biomedical field, spanning from (bio-) responsive drug delivery systems for precision medicine, targeted therapeutics, and nanomedicine, to nanosensors and actuators, and nanomaterials’ ensembles for cell therapies and tissue engineering.  

The development of the field has been mostly fuelled by the integration of bottom–up and top–down biofabrication methods with biorthogonal chemistries and controlled polymerization methods that allow for unprecedented architectural control and fidelity of the final structure at the nansoscale. The field of smart nanomaterials is dominated by polymers followed by small molecular ensembles (i.e., low molecular weight gelators, lipids, etc.), plasmonic/metallic or inorganic nanoparticles and other building components of biological origin (i.e., RNA/DNA strands, proteins, peptides, etc.).

“Smart” materials can now be designed to respond to a multitude of stimuli such as biochemical cues, and environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, pH and ionic strength, specific chemical analytes, as well as externally applied stimuli derived from magnetic or electric fields. It is expected that as we refine our fabrication/synthetic methods, these “smart” materials will start to truly emulate or even augment the delicate responsive properties which are found in Nature and, hence, it is anticipated that even more complex nanomaterials will emerge in the near future.

We invite colleagues to contribute to this Special Issue on the aforementioned concepts and keywords on the rapidly developing field of smart nanomaterials for biomedical applications.

Dr. George Pasparakis
Guest Editor

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials 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 2600 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.

Keywords

  • Responsive polymers
  • Hydrogels
  • Smart surfaces
  • Scaffolds for tissue engineering
  • Injectable materials for cell delivery
  • Responsive micelles for precision medicine
  • Plasmonic nanomaterials
  • Self-healing materials
  • Stimuli responsive drug delivery systems
  • Nanosensors
  • Diagnostics

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2878 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Thermoresponsive Hydrogels Synthesized by Conventional Free Radical and RAFT Polymerization
by Fanny Joubert, Peyton Cheong Phey Denn, Yujie Guo and George Pasparakis
Materials 2019, 12(17), 2697; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12172697 - 23 Aug 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2978
Abstract
We compared the influence of the polymerization mechanism onto the physical characteristics of thermoresponsive hydrogels. The Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogels were successfully synthesized using reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) and free radical polymerization (FRP). The gels were prepared while using different crosslinker feed [...] Read more.
We compared the influence of the polymerization mechanism onto the physical characteristics of thermoresponsive hydrogels. The Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogels were successfully synthesized using reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) and free radical polymerization (FRP). The gels were prepared while using different crosslinker feed and monomer concentration. The swelling, dye release, and hydrolytic stability of the gels were investigated in water, or in representative komostrope and chaotrope salt solutions at room temperature and at 37 °C. It was found that the swelling ratio (SR) of the RAFT gels was significantly higher than that of the FRP gels; however, an increased crosslinking density resulted in a decrease of the SR of the RAFT gels as compared to the corresponding gels that are made by FRP, which indicates the limitation of the cross-linking efficiency that is attained in RAFT polymerization. Additionally, an increased monomer concentration decreased the SR of the RAFT gels, whereas a similar SR was observed for the FRP gels. However, the SR of both RAFT and FRP gels in NaSCN and Na2SO4 solutions were similar. Finally, the rate of dye release was significantly slower from the RAFT gels than the FRP gels and the hydrolytic stability of the RAFT gels was lower than that of FRP gels in water, but maintained similar stability in Na2SO4 and NaSCN solutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue “Smart” Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications)
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12 pages, 5875 KiB  
Article
Luminescent Mesoporous Silica Nanohybrid Based on Drug Derivative Terbium Complex
by Fernando E. Maturi, Rafael M. Sábio, Robson R. Silva, Marcelo G. Lahoud, Andréia B. Meneguin, Gustavo T. Valente, Raphael A. Caface, Ilaiáli S. Leite, Natalia M. Inada and Sidney J. L. Ribeiro
Materials 2019, 12(6), 933; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12060933 - 21 Mar 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3434
Abstract
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles prepared by organic template-driven synthesis have been successfully explored as carriers of the drug-derivate green luminescent complex of terbium (III) with the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ketoprofen. The terbium (III) complex was synthesized by reacting ketoprofen sodium salt with terbium (III) [...] Read more.
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles prepared by organic template-driven synthesis have been successfully explored as carriers of the drug-derivate green luminescent complex of terbium (III) with the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ketoprofen. The terbium (III) complex was synthesized by reacting ketoprofen sodium salt with terbium (III) chloride, which was further adsorbed onto the surface of mesoporous nanoparticles with a mean particle size of 47 ± 4 nm and pore size of 11 nm. The incorporation of the complex into mesoporous silica nanoparticles was tracked by the decrease in the surface area and pore size of the nanoparticles, and successfully demonstrated by substantial changes in the adsorption isotherms and thermal and vibrational spectroscopy results. The cytotoxicity assay and confocal microscopy have shown that the novel luminescent nanohybrid presents high cell viability and the characteristic terbium (III) emission can be assessed through two-photon excitation, which paves the way for bioimaging applications in nanomedicine. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue “Smart” Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications)
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16 pages, 6461 KiB  
Article
Electrochemical Corrosion Behavior and Mechanical Properties of Nanocrystalline Ti–6Al–4V Alloy Induced by Sliding Friction Treatment
by Jinwen Lu, Wei Zhang, Wangtu Huo, Yongqing Zhao, Wenfang Cui and Yusheng Zhang
Materials 2019, 12(5), 760; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12050760 - 05 Mar 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2631
Abstract
A nanograined (NG) layer with an average grain size of less than 100 nm has been successfully prepared on a Ti–6Al–4V sheet surface by sliding friction treatment (SFT). The electrochemical corrosion/passive behavior and mechanical properties of an NG Ti–6Al–4V sheet were examined in [...] Read more.
A nanograined (NG) layer with an average grain size of less than 100 nm has been successfully prepared on a Ti–6Al–4V sheet surface by sliding friction treatment (SFT). The electrochemical corrosion/passive behavior and mechanical properties of an NG Ti–6Al–4V sheet were examined in this study. A bi-layer passive film that consisted of an outer TiO2-rich layer and an inner Al2O3-rich layer was formed on either an NG or coarse-grained (CG) surface. The improved corrosion was mainly caused by the enhanced stability and thickness of the passive layer. Tensile experiments were carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties at ambient temperature. The NG Ti–6Al–4V sample exhibited the high yield strength (956 MPa) with a moderate elongation of 8%. These superior comprehensive properties demonstrated its potential as a biomedical material. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue “Smart” Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications)
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