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Abstract Concentration gradients are at the basis of many natural phenomena and hold great importance in human and plant biology. This basic phenomenon has inspired many material scientists to confer novel and original properties to materials with numerous biomedical and pharmaceutical applications such as drug discovery, controlled release of drugs, tissue engineering, orthopedic implants and time–temperature indicators, amongst others. While the generation of gradients in solution is well described, their incorporation in solid materials remains challenging. This study reviews concepts and methods reported to generate gradients in respective solutions and (at the surface or in) solid materials like polymer scaffolds and matrices. This article also discusses how innovative materials possessing such gradients may be applied in biomedicine and pharmacy.
Hua et al. (Mon,) studied this question.