Advances in 3D and 4D-Printed Materials for Biomedical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of 3D and 4D printing has received widespread attention recently and has shown great potential for biomedical and bioengineering applications. Materials designed through 4D printing can change their morphology over time or provide particular activity in response to external stimuli such as temperature, pH, light, magnetism, ultrasounds, water, and the concentration of ions, biomolecules, and enzymes. This technology transforms materials into ‘smart materials’ or ‘intelligent materials”. Therefore, 3D and 4D printing have attracted increasing interest in biomedical fields, mainly in terms of developing personalized medical devices or patient-specific medical devices. Indeed, 3D and 4D printing is doing wonders when it comes to producing medical devices, implants, smart stents, patches, skin grafts, nerve grafts, smart drug delivery systems, scaffolds for repair/regeneration, and sensors. This technology is expected to boom in the coming years. However, a few limitations, such as the availability of suitable printers and restrictions in printable starting materials, remain to be overcome. This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of 4D-printed materials for biomedical applications, discuss current state-of-the-art 4D printing research, and outline future perspectives.

The Special Issue will cover but not be limited to the following topics:

• Additive manufacturing;
• Stimuli-responsive materials, multi-responsive materials,
• Smart materials, shape-memory materials, self-healing materials, and their application;
• 3D and 4D printing technologies and fabrication strategies;
• Development of implantable, or wearable, or personalized medical devices and sensors;
• Theoretical and application problems of 3D and 4D printing of polymeric materials;
• Tissue engineering and regenerative medicines;
• Drug delivery systems;
• Limitations of design and manufacturing processes;
• 4D bioprinting of organs and tissues;
• Developments of bio-inks for printing;
• Natural and synthetic polymeric and composite materials for 3D and 4D printing;
• Metal and ceramic printing.

Dr. A. Joseph Nathanael
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• 3D and 4D printing
• stimuli-responsive
• shape memory
• smart materials
• tissue engineering
• drug delivery systems
• additive manufacturing
• polymeric composite materials
• bio-inks
• metals and ceramics