Brush-Modified Hydrogels: Preparations, Properties, and Applications

The rational design of hydrogels with unique properties has unlocked their valuable and underlying capabilities for various applications in biomedicine, materials science, and chemical engineering. Whereas numerous hydrogels of different structures have been extensively reported in the last few decades, the number of hydrogels with polymer brush architectures is rapidly growing in recent years and they exhibit improved properties, compared with classical hydrogels, including excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, stimulus response, antifouling properties, lubrication properties, and other properties. Consequently, brush-modified hydrogels are increasingly being employed in various fields, including biomedical devices, tissue engineering, drug delivery, antifouling materials, and lubrication materials. This review is aimed at providing an overview of the preparations, properties, and applications of brush-modified hydrogels. In this Review, we will start with the introduction of polymer brush-modified hydrogels. After the introduction, we will summarize the research progress of brush-modified hydrogels with internal polymer molecular brushes, followed by brush-modified hydrogels with surface polymer molecular brushes. Finally, summary and outlook of brush-modified hydrogels are discussed.