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Review
. 2021 Jul 26;14(15):4152.
doi: 10.3390/ma14154152.

Polyelectrolyte Multilayers: An Overview on Fabrication, Properties, and Biomedical and Environmental Applications

Larisa-Maria Petrila  1 , Florin Bucatariu  1   2 , Marcela Mihai  1   2 , Carmen Teodosiu  2
Affiliations
Review

Polyelectrolyte Multilayers: An Overview on Fabrication, Properties, and Biomedical and Environmental Applications

Larisa-Maria Petrila et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Polyelectrolyte multilayers are versatile materials that are used in a large number of domains, including biomedical and environmental applications. The fabrication of polyelectrolyte multilayers using the layer-by-layer technique is one of the simplest methods to obtain composite functional materials. The properties of the final material can be easily tuned by changing the deposition conditions and the used building blocks. This review presents the main characteristics of polyelectrolyte multilayers, the fabrication methods currently used, and the factors influencing the layer-by-layer assembly of polyelectrolytes. The last section of this paper presents some of the most important applications of polyelectrolyte multilayers, with a special focus on biomedical and environmental applications.

Keywords: emerging pollutants; layer-by-layer; medical and environmental applications; polyelectrolyte.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Classification of polyelectrolytes according to the nature of the functional groups and the ionic charge.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of a polyelectrolyte multilayer.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic representation of the main LbL methods used for the fabrication of PEMs. (A) Conventional immersion deposition of PEs on flat substrates, (B) Spray deposition of PEs on flat substrates, (C) Spin-assisted deposition of PEs on flat substrates, (D) Electromagnetic deposition of PEs on flat substrates, (E) Microfluidic assembly of PEs on microfluidic materials.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The main usually expected properties of polyelectrolyte multilayers.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The main biomedical applications of PEMs.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The advantages of multilayer encapsulation of active compounds.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The mechanism of obtaining LbL hollow capsules and their use in the encapsulation of active compounds.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The sorption/rejection of pollutants by LbL-modified colloids (A) and membranes (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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