title: Nanoparticle-Hydrogel Composites: Concept, Design, and Applications of These Promising, Multi-Functional Materials.
abstract: New technologies rely on the development of new materials, and these may simply be the innovative combination of known components. The structural combination of a polymer hydrogel network with a nanoparticle (metals, non-metals, metal oxides, and polymeric moieties) holds the promise of providing superior functionality to the composite material with applications in diverse fields, including catalysis, electronics, bio-sensing, drug delivery, nano-medicine, and environmental remediation. This mixing may result in a synergistic property enhancement of each component: for example, the mechanical strength of the hydrogel and concomitantly decrease aggregation of the nanoparticles. These mutual benefits and the associated potential applications have seen a surge of interest in the past decade from multi-disciplinary research groups. Recent advances in nanoparticle-hydrogel composites are herein reviewed with a focus on their synthesis, design, potential applications, and the inherent challenges accompanying these exciting materials.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering 3 Research Link Singapore 117602 Singapore.
authors.forename: Praveen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thoniyot
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering 3 Research Link Singapore 117602 Singapore.
authors.forename: Mein Jin
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering 3 Research Link Singapore 117602 Singapore.
authors.forename: Anis Abdul
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering 3 Research Link Singapore 117602 Singapore; School of Science Monash University Malaysia Bandar Sunway 47500 Malaysia.
authors.forename: David James
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering 3 Research Link Singapore 117602 Singapore; Department of Materials Science and Engineering National University of Singapore 9 Engineering Drive 1 Singapore 117576 Singapore.
authors.forename: Xian Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Loh
keywords: hydrogel‐nanoparticle composites; multi‐functional materials; polymer networks; stimuli responsive hydrogels