Polyvinyl Alcohol-Based Biocomposites and Bionanocomposites

7Biomedical Applications of Polyvinyl Alcohol-Based Bionanocomposites

Bruno Leandro Pereira^1,2, Viviane Seba Sampaio^1,3, Gabriel Goetten de Lima^1,4, Carlos Maurício Lepienski^4,5, Mozart Marins³, Bor Shin Chee¹ and Michael J. D. Nugent¹*

¹Materials Research Institute MRI, Athlone Institute of Technology, Athlone, Ireland

²Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

³Biotechnology Unit, University of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil

⁴Federal University of Paraná, Postgraduate Program in Materials Engineering and Science - PIPE, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

⁵Federal University of Technology - Paraná, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

Abstract

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a synthetic biodegradable polymer that can mimic natural polymers and has excellent characteristics of biocompatibility in human tissues. As a polymeric matrix, PVA properties can also be enhanced or changed by the introduction of nanofillers. Combining PVA and a variety of nanofillers, it is possible to create materials with unique characteristics with many applications in the biomedical field such as drug delivery, wound healing, tissue engineering and medical devices. This chapter will focus on a review of literature about the research of nanocomposites using PVA as a matrix and the properties possible by the introduction of a range of different nanofillers for biomedical usage.

Keywords: Polyvinyl alcohol, biocompatible nanocomposite, ...