Recent advances in degradable lactide-based shape-memory polymers

Biodegradable polymers are versatile polymeric materials that have a high potential in biomedical applications avoiding subsequent surgeries to remove, for example, an implanted device. In the past decade, significant advances have been achieved with poly(lactide acid) (PLA)-based materials, as they can be equipped with an additional functionality, that is, a shape-memory effect (SME). Shape-memory polymers (SMPs) can switch their shape in a...