The development of new technologies is key to the continued improvement of medicine, relying on comprehensive materials design strategies that can integrate advanced therapeutic and diagnostic functions with a variety of surface properties such as selective adhesion, dynamic responsiveness, and optical/mechanical tunability. Liquid‐infused surfaces have recently come to the forefront as a unique approach to surface coatings that can resist adhesion of a wide range of contaminants on medical devices. Furthermore, these surfaces are proving highly versatile in enabling the integration of established medical surface treatments alongside the antifouling capabilities, such as drug release or biomolecule organization. Here, the range of research being conducted on liquid‐infused surfaces for medical applications is presented, from an understanding of the basics behind the interactions of physiological fluids, microbes, and mammalian cells with liquid layers to current applications of these materials in point‐of‐care diagnostics, medical tubing, instruments, implants, and tissue engineering. Throughout this exploration, the design parameters of liquid‐infused surfaces and how they can be adapted and tuned to particular applications are discussed, while identifying how the range of controllable factors offered by liquid‐infused surfaces can be used to enable completely new and dynamic approaches to materials and devices for human health.
Mechanically flexible and conformable materials and integrated devices have found diverse applications in personalized healthcare as diagnostics and therapeutics, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine constructs, surgical tools, secure systems, and assistive technologies. In order to impart optimal mechanical properties to the (bio)materials used in these applications, various strategies have been explored—from composites to structural engineering. In recent years, geometric cuts inspired by the art of paper‐cutting, referred to as kirigami, have provided innovative opportunities for conferring precise mechanical properties via material removal. Kirigami‐based approaches have been used for device design in areas ranging from soft bioelectronics to energy storage. In this review, the principles of kirigami‐inspired engineering specifically for biomedical applications are discussed. Factors pertinent to their design, including cut geometry, materials, and fabrication, and the effect these parameters have on their properties and configurations are covered. Examples of kirigami designs in healthcare are presented, such as, various form factors of sensors (on skin, wearable), implantable devices, therapeutics, surgical procedures, and cellular scaffolds for regenerative medicine. Finally, the challenges and future scope for the successful translation of these biodesign concepts to broader deployment are discussed.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10446947
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Materials
- Volume:
- 34
- Issue:
- 18
- ISSN:
- 0935-9648
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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