Current advances of chemical and physical starch‐based hydrogels

Abstract

Abstract Starch is a natural polymer, which has many unique properties. It has been utilized to prepare hydrogels and received growing attention. Starch‐based hydrogels (SH) are attractive and widely applied in a variety of fields such as biomedical, food packing, and others. In this article, the developments of physical and chemical SHs in the last decade are summarized. The common approaches to prepare hydrogels are briefly elucidated. Subsequently, the SHs obtained by chemical and physical cross‐linking methods are described. Then, the characteristics and potential applications of the SHs are introduced and correlated. Finally, suggestions about the future directions of developing SHs are presented.