Responsive polymer brushes for biomedical applications

The development of biomedical devices, biosensors, and medical implants is critically dependent on the engineering of “smart” surfaces that can adapt or respond to their local environment. The responsive polymer brush can be considered one of the most promising systems to create such smart surfaces. Responsive polymer brushes have been shown to be able to control wettability, cell adhesion, bacterial adhesion, and protein adsorption. This chapter encompasses a review on the system of responsive polymer brushes, while specifically focusing on the large potential that these systems can have in the field of biomedical applications. Initially, we discuss the key design parameters important in this field, including types of responsive behavior and possible brush architectures. The chapter, then, provides an overview of many recent examples of responsive polymer brush systems for biomedical applications. Finally, we provide an outlook on what we believe to be the bright future that these systems have in the biomedical field.