Thermoresponsive Materials: Properties, Design, and Applications

Thermoresponsive materials change their structural properties or exhibit conformational changes in response to temperature changes. They have stimulated researchers’ attention in the biomedical field, taking into consideration that specific infections show temperature changes. For example, temperature-responsive polymers have a typical trademark highlight in the presence of a hydrophobic group: propyl, methyl, and ethyl groups. When warmed or cooled over a critical transition point, inside a small temperature range, a break of hydrophobic and intra/intermolecular electrostatic interactions takes place, and the impact is a phase transition in the volume. This chapter describes the types of preparation, structural properties, mechanism of action of thermoresponsive materials, and their various applications in biomedical.