Construction of ordered structure in polysaccharide hydrogel: A review. (1st February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nie, Jingyi; Pei, Boying; Wang, Zhengke; Hu, Qiaoling
• Is Part Of: Carbohydrate polymers. Volume 205(2019)
• Page Start: 225
• Page End: 235
• Publication Date: 2019-02-01
• Subjects: Polysaccharide -- Hydrogel -- Ordered structure -- Multi-layered structure -- Orientated structure; Polysaccharides -- Periodicals; Polysaccharides -- Periodicals; Polysaccharides -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 547.78
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.10.033
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0144-8617

Abstract

Highlights: Polysaccharide hydrogels with ordered structures inspired by nature demonstrate high potential for biomedical applications. Technologies to fabricate multi-layered and orientated hydrogels in biomedical field have been reviewed. Various polysaccharides used to fabricate ordered structure hydrogels by different strategies are introduced. Abstract: Hydrogels are three-dimensional, hydrophilic, polymeric networks, held together by a variety of physical or chemical crosslinks. Among the numerous polymers that can be employed to fabricate hydrogel, polysaccharides have attracted enormous attention due to their peculiar properties that make them suitable for various applications. Compared with homogeneous hydrogels, hydrogels with ordered structures on various length scales are endowed with excellent properties and promising applications in materials science. In the present review, a wide range of techniques were introduced and discussed, which had been utilized to construct ordered hierarchical structures in polysaccharide hydrogels. These techniques focused on the construction of multi-layered and orientated structure, which are two typical and very important forms of hierarchical structure.