Hydrogel Biomaterials: Fundamentals and Applications

This lecture covers the fundamentals and applications of hydrogel biomaterials, including the definition of hydrogels, the growing interest in hydrogels, the differences between natural and synthetic polymers, the preparation methods of physical and chemical hydrogels, and the characterization techniques such as rheology and swelling studies. The lecture also discusses the types of hydrogels based on biopolymers, the cross-linking mechanisms, and the biocompatibility aspects. Various examples of hydrogel applications in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and other fields are presented.