Acrylic-Based Materials for Biomedical and Bioengineering Applications

Abstract

Acrylic-based polymers have been used for many years in biomedical applications because of their versatile properties. Many different polymers belong to this class of polymers, of which a significant number have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are frequently used in ophthalmologic devices, orthopaedics, tissue engineering applications and dental applications. The applications of this class of polymers have the potential to be expanded exponentially in the biomedical industry if their properties such as mechanical performance, electrical and/or thermal properties, fluid diffusion, biological behaviour, antimicrobial capacity and porosity can be tailored to specific requirements. Thus, acrylic-based materials have been produced as multicomponent polymeric platforms as interpenetrating polymer networks or in combination with other sophisticated materials such as fibres, nanofibres, carbon nanomaterials such as graphene and its derivatives and/or many other types of nanoparticles in the form of composite or nanocomposite biomaterials. Moreover, in regenerative medicine, acrylic porous supports (scaffolds) need to be structured with the necessary degree, type and morphology of pores by advanced technological fabrication techniques.