This book is concerned with polymeric hydrogels which are considered as one of the most
promising types of new polymer-based materials. Each chapter in this book describes a selected
class of polymeric hydrogels such as superabsorbent hybrid nanohydrogels conducting polymer
hydrogels polysaccharide-based or protein-based hydrogels or gels based on synthetic
polymers. In this way the book also addresses some of the fascinating properties and
applications of polymeric hydrogels: they are three-dimensional hydrophilic polymeric
networks that can absorb swell and retain large quantities of water or aqueous fluids. In
combination with metal nanoparticles nanofibrils or nanowhiskers which may be embedded in the
gels they find widespread applications ranging from agriculture and waste water treatment
over electronics to pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. Applications mentioned in this
book include electro sensors capacitors electromechanical actuators and even artificial
muscles.
