Advances in siloxane-based materials reinforced hybrid hydrogels and their biomedical applications

Hydrogels are distinguished by their high-water content, superior biocompatibility, and stimuli-responsive properties, which have found widespread applications in biomedical domains such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, and wound healing. However, conventional hydrogels are often hindered by intrinsic drawbacks such as inferior mechanical strength, unstable cross-linking, and a lack of antibacterial activity, which restrict their practical applications. To enhance the comprehensive performance of hydrogels, modification via chemical or physical strategies has been employed to optimize both the functional characteristics and mechanical properties. Among various modifying agents, siloxane-based materials have garnered increasing attention as novel modifiers due to their versatile functional groups as well as chemical and physical properties. The interactions between siloxanes and hydrogels facilitate the formation of robust polymer network structures, achieving a synergistic enhancement in physicochemical properties and functionality. Given the extensive variety of siloxane-based materials, this review follows the classification of D-, T-, and Q-type siloxanes and summarizes their distinct modification strategies for hydrogels. The reinforced effects, intermolecular interactions and biomedical applications of siloxane-hydrogel composites are mainly discussed. This review provides an outlook on the future development of advanced siloxane-hydrogel hybrids through the rational design of hydrogels with siloxanes.