Biodegradable and Biocompatible Functional Polymers for Biomedical Applications
TL;DR
This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in biodegradable and/or biocompatible functional polymers, with a focus on five representative material classes: conductive polymers, shape‐memory polymers, self‐healing polymers, photocurable polymers, and adhesive polymers.
Abstract
Due to the tunable mechanical properties, degradation kinetics, and inherent compatibility with biological environments, biodegradable polymers have a considerable impact on bio‐interfaced technologies. Through the rational integration of active molecular motifs that impart electrical, physicochemical, and biological responsiveness, these materials evolve beyond passive structural roles into multifunctional platforms capable of signal transduction, adaptive mechanical behavior, controlled fabrication, and therapeutic intervention under physiological conditions. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in biodegradable and/or biocompatible functional polymers, with a focus on five representative material classes: conductive polymers, shape‐memory polymers, self‐healing polymers, photocurable polymers, and adhesive polymers. For each component, we discuss material design strategies, structure–property relationships, and a wide range of biomedical applications, and outline challenges and future directions for translating these materials into clinically relevant transient, bioresorbable platform technologies for next‐generation biomedical and bioelectronic systems.