Ferrogels : Smart materials for biomedical and remediation applications

Abstract

One of the principal aims of the recent industrial development is directed to obtain materialscapable to respond of environmental stimuli for biomedical uses or retaining contaminants withhigh efficiency and that may be reused several times. In this context, magnetic gels, also calledferrogels, come up as great candidates for these issues because of their excellent adsorptionproperties as well as good mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties. These magnetic-fieldsensitivegels are obtained by dispersing magnetic particles of colloidal size into a cross-linkedpolymer. Magnetic composites have also been widely used in wastewater treatment, biomedicaldrug delivery, and so on, due to their low toxicity, good biocompatibility, small size, and easyseparation, and the capability of being controlled by a magnetic field (remote control). In thischapter, we describe the most recently advances in this area and the future perspectives of that.