Smart World; Smart Polymers

Welcome to the timely publication of this chapter entitled: “Smart World; Smart polymers”.

Smart polymers, stimuli-responsive polymers or functional polymers are high-performance polymers that change according to the environment they are in. Such materials can be sensitive to a number of factors, such as temperature, humidity, pH, chemical compounds, the wavelength or intensity of light or an electrical or magnetic field and can respond in various ways, like altering color or transparency, becoming conductive or permeable to water or changing shape (shape memory polymers). Usually, slight changes in the environment are sufficient to induce large changes in the polymer's properties. The term smart polymer embraces a wide range of different compounds that can change their color, transparency or shape in response to their environment; they are smart because of their ability to respond in a very dramatic way when small environmental changes are detected.

It only takes a small variation in temperature, humidity, pH, or light, for example, to induce a large change in smart polymer properties, and this non-linear response makes them unique. Smart polymers tend to have an all-or-nothing response, and are completely predictable, with the change being uniform throughout the material. They might alter their conformation, adhesiveness or water retention properties, and can return to their initial state when the stimulus ends.

These biocompatible, strong, resilient, and flexible polymers are classified according to their physical features, or the stimuli they respond to. If grouped by their physical shape, they may be classified as free linear chain solutions, reversible gels covalently cross-linked and polymer chain grafted on a surface.

I think the coming decades will be the years of the emergence and growth of smart polymers; So that in all everyday events we see the role of one of them!

So it is not in vain to say after a thoughtful study in the field of smart polymers:

“Welcome to the new era of materials!”