Biofabrication of Interpenetrating Polymer Network Hydrogels

Abstract

Interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogels are mixtures of multiple cross-linked polymers, which don't have any covalent bonds between components, but cannot be separated using purely physical methods. The combination of the individual polymers results in a multi-component polymer system with a new profile with better mechanical properties and better swelling/deswelling response. This review paper aims to give an overview of the IPN hydrogels and the associated manufacturing techniques within a variety of biomedical applications. The first part of this review introduces different IPN-based hydrogels and their classification. The second part of this review focuses on different manufacturing techniques, which are used to process the IPN hydrogels to fabricate 3D constructs for various applications in biomedical engineering.