Dopamine-Based Materials: Recent Advances in Synthesis Methods and Applications

Abstract

Dopamine-based materials have attracted considerable interests due to their unique physicochemical properties including versatile adhesion property, high chemical reactivity, strong photothermal conversion capacity, excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, etc. Since the discovery of oxidative self-polymerization of dopamine for preparation of polydopamine, different strategies have been employed to construct fruitful polydopamine-based materials, such as nanoparticles, core/shell nanoparticles, microcapsules, films, and hydrogels. Moreover, one-pot polydopamine-assisted co-deposition could facilitate the incorporation of functional molecules into the materials during the formation process of polydopamine, thus greatly simplifying the functionalization procedure of polydopamine. This chapter is devoted to introduce recent development in dopamine-based materials and their applications. First, an overview of the different methodologies for fabrication of dopamine-based materials is summarized. We outline various polydopamine-based materials constructed with different preparation strategies and novel materials prepared via the co-assembly strategy. Thereafter, we focus on the recent advances of emerging applications of dopamine-based materials in various fields ranging from cancer theranostics, bioimaging, self-adhesive bioelectronics to removal of heavy metal ions. Finally, we discuss the critical unsolved challenges in this field and some potential opportunities for future research.