High‐Throughput Combinatorial Synthesis of Stimuli‐Responsive Materials

Stimuli‐responsive materials find wide applications in different biological and medical settings. Traditionally, stimuli‐responsive materials are synthesized and evaluated individually one‐by‐one. The drawback of this approach is the scarceness of possible combinations that can be practically tested for the purpose of saving time, consumables, and manpower. High‐throughput methods are therefore important to accelerate the discovery of stimuli‐responsive materials and to screen for biological interactions of interest in parallel. The objective of this article is to provide an overview of the successful employment of combinatorial high‐throughput synthesis and screening of stimuli‐responsive materials. In particular, these include thermoresponsive and hydroresponsive materials. Advantages of a combinatorial approach as well as of utilizing high‐throughput methodologies in the development of stimuli‐responsive materials are reviewed. Possible evolution trends of stimuli‐responsive materials, advanced by high‐throughput methodologies, are discussed.