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Advances in Smart Polymers and Materials

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Smart and Functional Polymers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 June 2023) | Viewed by 15172

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Departamento de Química de Radiaciones y Radioquímica, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, México 04510, DF, Mexico
Interests: radiation grafting; smart polymers; drug delivery; biomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departamento de Química de Radiaciones y Radioquímica, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 México DF, Mexico
Interests: coordination; organometallics; materials; polymers; synthesis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departamento de Química de Radiaciones y Radioquímica, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, México 04510, DF, Mexico
Interests: polymers; smart polymers; enzymes; dendrimers; radiation grafting; drug delivery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Radiation Chemistry, Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico, external circuit, University City, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Interests: energy sources; sustainable development; materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Polymeric systems that present versatile behaviours are currently one of the most researched topics in applied polymer science, and novel applications that were previously reserved for materials such as metals, ceramics, and semiconductors are now emerging at an unprecedented pace. Within all the possibilities of stimuli-responsive polymers, pH and thermal responses have always been an important area because the triggers that exploit these responses are readily available both in laboratories and in applied contexts, especially biological systems. The creation of these systems has evolved from simple to smart responses up to fine-tuned systems that are increasingly useful for complex applications.

As these systems continue to boom, we propose this Special Issue which deals with the creation, testing, characterization, and complex application of polymeric systems that exhibit responses to triggers such as pH and thermal changes in their surroundings (or both). The nature of these polymer systems may naturally be derived both from scratch (e.g., the development and polymerization of smart monomers) and from the modification of natural or synthetic polymeric matrixes. Additionally, the applications for these systems may be broad, extending from medical applications (e.g., drug delivery, tissue engineering) to the creation of new materials (e.g., self-healing polymers). Concurrently, this issue is concerned with both state-of-the-art synthetic pathways needed to create novel materials as well as with the fine-tuning of smart polymers. Both reviews and original submissions are welcome.

Dr. Emilio Carrillo
Dr. Felipe López-Saucedo
Dr. Guadalupe G. Flores-Rojas
Dr. Amira Jalil Fragoso-Medina
Guest Editors

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. Polymers 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 2700 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

  • smart polymers
  • pH responsiveness
  • thermal responsiveness
  • new materials
  • drug delivery
  • self-healing polymers
  • state-of-the-art polymers

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 5208 KiB  
Article
Formation Features of Polymer–Metal–Carbon Ternary Electromagnetic Nanocomposites Based on Polyphenoxazine
by Sveta Ozkan, Valeriy Petrov, Andrey Vasilev, Petr Chernavskii, Mikhail Efimov, Dmitriy Muratov, Galina Pankina and Galina Karpacheva
Polymers 2023, 15(13), 2894; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15132894 - 29 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1206
Abstract
Novel ternary hybrid polyphenoxazine (PPOA)-derived nanocomposites involving Co-Fe particles and single-walled (SWCNTs) or multi-walled (MWCNTs) carbon nanotubes were prepared and investigated. An efficient one-pot method employing infrared (IR) heating enabled the formation of Co-Fe/CNT/PPOA nanocomposites. During this, the dehydrogenation of phenoxazine (POA) units [...] Read more.
Novel ternary hybrid polyphenoxazine (PPOA)-derived nanocomposites involving Co-Fe particles and single-walled (SWCNTs) or multi-walled (MWCNTs) carbon nanotubes were prepared and investigated. An efficient one-pot method employing infrared (IR) heating enabled the formation of Co-Fe/CNT/PPOA nanocomposites. During this, the dehydrogenation of phenoxazine (POA) units led to the simultaneous reduction of metals by released hydrogen, yielding bimetallic Co-Fe particles with a size range from the nanoscale (5–30 nm) to the microscale (400–1400 nm). The synthesized Co-Fe/CNT/PPOA nanomaterials exhibited impressive thermal stability, demonstrating a half-weight loss at 640 °C and 563 °C in air for Co-Fe/SWCNT/PPOA and Co-Fe/MWCNT/PPOA, respectively. Although a slightly broader range of saturation magnetization values was obtained using MWCNTs, it was found that the type of carbon nanotube, whether an SWCNT (22.14–41.82 emu/g) or an MWCNT (20.93–44.33 emu/g), did not considerably affect the magnetic characteristics of the resulting nanomaterial. By contrast, saturation magnetization escalated with an increasing concentration of both cobalt and iron. These nanocomposites demonstrated a weak dependence of electrical conductivity on frequency. It is shown that the conductivity value for hybrid nanocomposites is higher compared to single-polymer materials and becomes higher with increasing CNT content. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Smart Polymers and Materials)
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17 pages, 6961 KiB  
Article
Vibration of a Liquid Crystal Elastomer Spring Oscillator under Periodic Electrothermal Drive
by Kai Li, Jiangfeng Lou, Shaofei Hu, Yuntong Dai, Fei Wang and Yong Yu
Polymers 2023, 15(13), 2822; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15132822 - 26 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1703
Abstract
The oscillations of electrically actuated thermally-responsive liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) microfibers under cyclic electric actuation have been discovered in recent experiments. Periodic electric actuation is a common method of active control with potential applications in the fields of micro-actuators. In this paper, the [...] Read more.
The oscillations of electrically actuated thermally-responsive liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) microfibers under cyclic electric actuation have been discovered in recent experiments. Periodic electric actuation is a common method of active control with potential applications in the fields of micro-actuators. In this paper, the vibration behavior of LCE spring oscillator under periodic electrothermal drive is studied theoretically. Based on the dynamic LCE model, the dynamic governing equation of the LCE spring oscillator is established, and the time history curves of the vibration are obtained by numerical calculations. The results show that the periodic electrothermal drive can cause periodic vibration of the LCE spring oscillator. With the increase of time rate, the vibration amplitude increases first and then decreases. In a small damping system, there exist optimal sets of electrothermal drive period and electrothermal drive time rate to maximize the system amplitude. For the optimum periodic mode, the vibration amplitude of the spring oscillator is affected by the current heat, damping coefficient, gravital acceleration, spring constant and shrinkage coefficient, but not by the initial velocity. The application examples of LCE materials show that periodic electrothermally driven LCEs have promising applications. The results of this study are instructive for the design of soft robots and LCE-based electric locomotives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Smart Polymers and Materials)
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15 pages, 3392 KiB  
Article
In Vitro Evaluation of Kaempferol-Loaded Hydrogel as pH-Sensitive Drug Delivery Systems
by Qin Zhang, Xinying Yang, Yifang Wu, Chang Liu, Hongmei Xia, Xiaoman Cheng, Yongfeng Cheng, Ying Xia and Yu Wang
Polymers 2022, 14(15), 3205; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14153205 - 5 Aug 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2620
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to prepare and evaluate kaempferol-loaded carbopol polymer (acrylic acid) hydrogel, investigate its antioxidant activity in vitro, and compare the effects on drug release under different pH conditions. Drug release studies were conducted in three different pH media [...] Read more.
The purpose of this study was to prepare and evaluate kaempferol-loaded carbopol polymer (acrylic acid) hydrogel, investigate its antioxidant activity in vitro, and compare the effects on drug release under different pH conditions. Drug release studies were conducted in three different pH media (pH 3.4, 5.4, and 7.4). The kaempferol-loaded hydrogel was prepared by using carbopol 934 as the hydrogel matrix. The morphology and viscosity of the preparation were tested to understand the fluidity of the hydrogel. The antioxidant activity of the preparation was studied by scavenging hydrogen peroxide and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrilhidrazil (DPPH) radicals in vitro and inhibiting the production of malondialdehyde in mouse tissues. The results showed that kaempferol and its preparations had high antioxidant activity. In vitro release studies showed that the drug release at pH 3.4, 5.4, and 7.4 was 27.32 ± 3.49%, 70.89 ± 8.91%, and 87.9 ± 10.13%, respectively. Kaempferol-loaded carbopol hydrogel displayed greater swelling and drug release at higher pH values (pH 7.4). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Smart Polymers and Materials)
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17 pages, 2175 KiB  
Article
Mechanistic Approach of Nano Carriers for Targeted in Cancer Chemotherapy: A Newer Strategy for Novel Drug Delivery System
by Niladri Shekhar Dey
Polymers 2022, 14(12), 2321; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14122321 - 8 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2145
Abstract
The application of nanomedicine represents an innovative approach for the treatment in the modern field of cancer chemotherapy. In the present research work, tamoxifen citrate loaded nanolipid vesicles were prepared conjugated with phosphoethanolamine as the linker molecule, and the specific antibody was tagged [...] Read more.
The application of nanomedicine represents an innovative approach for the treatment in the modern field of cancer chemotherapy. In the present research work, tamoxifen citrate loaded nanolipid vesicles were prepared conjugated with phosphoethanolamine as the linker molecule, and the specific antibody was tagged with the linker molecule on the bilayer surface of the vesicles. The main objective of this study is to determine the efficacy and biological behavior of antibody conjugated nanoliposome in breast cancer cell lines. Percentage of drug loading and loading efficiency was done and their results were compared to theoretical drug loading. The average diameter of those vesicles was within the 100 nm range, which is revealed in FESEM and TEM images and their lamellarity was observed in cryo-TEM images. The hydrodynamic diameter was done by particle size analysis and the surface charge was determined by the zeta potential parameter. Predominant cellular uptake was observed for antibody conjugated nanolipid vesicles in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-453 human breast cancer cell lines. A cellular apoptosis assay was conducted by flow cytometer (FACS). All experimental data would be more beneficial for the treatment of breast cancer chemotherapy. Further studies are warranted to investigate the efficacy and safety of antibody conjugated nanolipid vesicles in vivo for breast cancer animal model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Smart Polymers and Materials)
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Review

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28 pages, 2902 KiB  
Review
Recent Trends in Magnetic Polymer Nanocomposites for Aerospace Applications: A Review
by David Romero-Fierro, Moises Bustamante-Torres, Francisco Bravo-Plascencia, Aylin Esquivel-Lozano, Juan-Carlos Ruiz and Emilio Bucio
Polymers 2022, 14(19), 4084; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14194084 - 29 Sep 2022
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6395
Abstract
Polymers have had an enormous impact on science and technology, and their interest relating to the development of new macromolecular materials has exponentially increased. Polymer nanocomposites, materials based on a polymeric matrix covalently coupled to reinforcement, display properties of both components. In the [...] Read more.
Polymers have had an enormous impact on science and technology, and their interest relating to the development of new macromolecular materials has exponentially increased. Polymer nanocomposites, materials based on a polymeric matrix covalently coupled to reinforcement, display properties of both components. In the aerospace industry, polymer nanocomposites are attractive due to their promising characteristics, among which lightness, mechanical and thermal resistance, radiation and corrosion resistance, and conductive and magnetic properties stand out. The use of them, instead of metal-based materials, has allowed the optimization of design processes and applications in order to provide safer, faster, and eventually cheaper transportation in the future. This comparative review collects the most relevant and prominent advances in the development of polymer nanocomposites with aerospace applications starting from basic aspects such as the definition of polymer nanocomposite to more specialized details such as synthesis, characterization, and applications, in addition to proposing new research branches related to this topic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Smart Polymers and Materials)
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