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

• Main Authors: Larisa-Maria Petrila, Florin Bucatariu, Marcela Mihai, Carmen Teodosiu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: layer-by-layer; polyelectrolyte; medical and environmental applications; emerging pollutants
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/14/15/4152

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.