Laser surface modification of biodegradable polymers and biomedical applications

During the last decades, biodegradable polymers have been attracting increasing attention in tissue engineering and drug delivery due to its high biocompatibility and biodegradability. Chemical structure and surface properties of biodegradable polymers are known to be a key factor to decide its functionality as biomaterials. Among various methods to process or modify biodegradable polymer surfaces, laser processing has advantages in a dry processing which is able to process complex-shaped surfaces without using a toxic chemical component. This review gives an overview of laser processing of biodegradable polymer surfaces for biomedical applications. The formation of laser induced periodic surface structure (LIPSS) on a biodegradable polymer is also discussed.