Liquid Crystal Materials for Biomedical Applications.

Liquid crystal is a state of matter being intermediate between solid and liquid. Liquid crystal materials exhibit both orientational order and fluidity. Whilst liquid crystals have long been highly recognized in the display industry, in recent decades, liquid crystals provide new opportunities into the cross-field of material science and biomedicine due to its biocompatibility, multifunctionality, and responsiveness. In this review, we summarize the latest achievements of liquid crystal materials applied in biomedical fields. We start by introducing the basic concepts of liquid crystals, and then shift to the components of liquid crystals as well as functional materials derived therefrom. After that, we discuss the ongoing and foreseeable applications of liquid crystal materials in the biomedical field with emphasis put on several cutting-edge aspects, including drug delivery, bioimaging, tissue engineering, implantable devices, biosensing, and wearable devices. We hope this review will stimulate ingenious ideas for the future generation of liquid crystal-based drug development, artificial implants, disease diagnosis, health status monitoring, and beyond. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.