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Nanoparticle diffusive transport in hydrogels
Summary
This review pulls together existing research on how tiny particles (like drug-delivery nanoparticles) move through hydrogels, soft, water-filled materials found in things like biofilms and body tissues. Understanding this movement matters because it could help scientists design better ways to deliver medications precisely where they're needed, and it also sheds light on how microplastics might travel through similar gel-like environments in nature and our bodies. The paper also reviews techniques like ultrasound and magnetic fields that could speed up this particle movement for medical or environmental uses.
Abstract Hydrogels play a critical role in a wide and expanding range of applications, including drug delivery and biofilm formation in the biomedical sciences, cooling and lubrication in industrial processes, and pollution and microplastic remediation in environmental engineering. In many of these applications, transport of nanoparticles within the hydrogels is a key part of the hydrogel application. The current review article focuses on understanding and prediction of the diffusive processes that govern nanoparticle transport in hydrogels. We first discuss the types of nanoparticles typically used in hydrogel applications, followed by an examination of the physics of nanoparticle diffusion in hydrogels. We then provide a detailed review of methods to enhance nanoparticle diffusion in hydrogels, including use of ultrasound and oscillating magnetic fields.