A mussel inspired self-expandable tubular hydrogel with shape memory under NIR for potential biomedical applications.

We engineered a novel shape memory polymer (SMP), a nanocomposite hydrogel containing polydopamine nanospheres (PDNs) as a self-expandable tubular hydrogel under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. When NIR is applied to the nanocomposite hydrogel, the PDN nanoparticles absorb light, which is locally dissipated as heat to become the driving force for shape transition behavior. Since the fabricated PDN material has good mechanical properties, including rapid self-expandability and good biocompatibility, when developed with good heating properties under (NIR) irradiation, it might be useful for many biomedical applications such as the treatment of coronary artery disease.