Ferrogels towards nanotheranostics

The concept of linking polymeric gel and crystalline magnetite in a single material intends to invent an intelligent class of composite materials, which is termed as ferrogels. The ferrogels hold distinct properties that can not be possessed by the separate components. Magnetically responsive ferrogels offer the pivotal platform for biomedical applications. The amenable coordination of magnetic polymers for timing and rate applied in drug deliveries, wound healing and theranostic applications has added discrete attention due to their non-contact mode of action. The present literature covers the foremost proficiencies of ferrogels with attention to the pro-cess of doping magnetic particles in the polymeric network. The review unfolds the prospects on how the phenomenon of mechanical, tribological, biological, electrochemical and adsorption kinetics can be altered by the encapsulation of magnetic materials in a polymeric matrix and thus the applications ranging from drug -delivery to wound healing to diagnostics and therapeutics (magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic biosensing etc.). Therefore, the current report offers an ample illustration of the broad-range projections over ferrogels with the anticipation that the readers will attain a concise outlook on the recent progress, properties and applications of ferrogels.