LONDON—Technavio analysts forecast the global smart polymers market to grow at a CAGR of close to 20% during the forecast period, according to their latest report.
The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global smart polymers market for 2016-2020. The report also lists smart drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, textile engineering, and others as the four major application segments for the market.
Smart polymers are polymers that change their properties with respect to the environment they are in. These polymers react to external stimuli and adjust to evolving conditions. These polymers experience reversible physical and chemical changes in response to small external stimuli in the natural conditions, such as, temperature, pH, light, magnetic and electric field, ionic components, and biological molecules. These stimuli-sensitive polymers are either synthetic or natural. Smart polymers are designed according to their targets, for example, coating, particles, and the nature of the function.
The global smart polymers market will grow and develop in areas such as life sciences, including diagnostics and patient treatment. Smart drug delivery system is estimated to be the largest application for the smart polymers during the forecast period.
Technavio chemicals and materials analysts highlight the following four factors that are contributing to the growth of the global smart polymers market:
- Use of smart polymers for controlled drug delivery
- Application of shape memory polymer in automotive industry
- Property of reversible phase transitions
- Need for efficient technologies over existing ones
Use of smart polymers for controlled drug delivery
Researchers are now focusing on different categories of smart polymer-based drug delivery systems and their application in controlling medication delivery to acquire a constant plasma level. Smart drug delivery system is estimated to be the largest application for the smart polymers during the forecast period. Protein and peptide-based therapeutic agents have high molecular weight and short half-life. Delivery of these proteins and peptides through oral, nasal, rectal, pulmonary, buccal, vaginal, and transdermal route of administration faces challenges of poor permeability and drug degradation. Parenteral route of administration overcome these issues, but maintaining consistency and the requirement for regular administration is another problem.
“Controlled delivery of these drugs using smart polymers is encouraging as they overcome the issues faced in other courses of delivery. Drug delivery using smart polymers ensures patient compliance, maintains the stability of the drug, and allows monitoring of the medication level,” says Chandrakumar Badala Jaganathan, a lead analyst at Technavio for plastics, polymers, and elastomers research.
Application of shape memory polymer in automotive industry
In the automotive industry, shape memory polymers are used in vehicle subsystems. These polymers self-heal in the case of damage. These polymers can also be designed to change appearance or color. In addition, these polymers can be used in sensors in safety systems. Shape memory polymers showcase new platform for variable elements in vehicles. The novel materials include new innovative components that can enhance vehicle performance at lower costs.
Property of reversible phase transitions
Smart polymers that experience reversible stage transitions to external stimuli are of extraordinary importance. These polymers experience reversible volume change because of difference in solution conditions that acts as external stimuli. Stimuli-responsive polymers imitate biological systems in a crude manner where an external stimulus (e.g., change in pH or temperature) results in an adjustment in properties. This can be an adjustment in adaptation, change in solubility, modification of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic transitions, or the presence of bioactive substances such as drug molecules.
In medicine, smart polymers are preferred because these polymers demonstrate their reaction properties in biological conditions. New smart polymers are being developed that can sense precise chemical fluctuations in the biological system and regulate in a probable manner, rendering their use in biosensor designing.
Need for efficient technologies over existing ones
Scientific advancements have prompted the commercialization of polymers that react significantly to small external stimuli. Stimuli-sensitive polymers are, proving to be lucrative for markets with high innovation. Smart polymers have showcased new areas in the medicinal diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, implants, and treatments sectors.
Researchers concentrating on natural polymers have figured out how the natural polymers act in the biological system and are using that data to create comparable man-made polymeric substances with particular properties. These engineered polymers are valuable for a number of uses related to biotechnology and biomedicine.
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