Progress in self-healing hydrogels assembled by host–guest interactions: preparation and biomedical applications

Abstract

Self-healing is one of the most fundamental properties of living tissues that allows them to withstand repeated damage. Self-healing hydrogels, which can spontaneously recover themselves after being ruptured, result in enhanced lifetimes for materials and open up a fascinating direction in materials science. Host–guest interactions have been widely used in the construction of self-healing hydrogels. We have emphasized the preparation and biomedical applications of self-healing hydrogels assembled by host–guest interactions, focusing on hosts of cyclodextrins and cucurbit[n]urils with various guests and tailored structures. The applications of self-healing hydrogels in biomedical fields such as drug delivery, encapsulation of cells and tissue engineering and 3D printing as well as interfacial adhesion were also summarized. At the end of this review, we propose the current challenges and future perspectives in this developing area.