Illustrates the utility of gels in biomedical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, toiletry, and chemical engineering!

This versatile reference offers an in-depth look at the properties, thermodynamic formation, structure, latest trends, and scientific applications of bio- and synthetic polymer gels-discussing both fundamental concepts and potential uses of gel technology.

Describes the use of hydrogels as superabsorbents, carriers for controlled drug release, membranes with regulated permeability, sensor devices, and artificial muscles!

Written by nearly 40 international experts from industry and academia, Polymer Gels and Networks

• details the incorporation of hydrophobic- or temperature-sensitive monomer units and the addition of surfactants and linear polymers to enhance hydrophobic interactions
• examines cross-linked polymer gels as well as gels with embedded metal nanoparticles or surfactant molecules
• covers theoretical modeling of network constitution, scaling theory, and kinetic approaches to the phase transition of gels
• identifies the features of biological and responsive gels, including topics in chemical processing, dynamics, and rheology
• synthesizes interdisciplinary viewpoints to extend applications of gel science beyond biomedicine

With over 1100 references, tables, equations, drawings, photographs, and micrographs, Polymer Gels and Networks is essential reading for organic, medicinal, physical, surface, and colloid chemists and biochemists; chemical, materials, biomedical, polymer, plastics, fibers, and coatings engineers and bioengineers; pharmaceutical scientists; and upper-level undergraduates and graduate students in these disciplines.