Engineering of medical-grade silicon-based biomaterials for male and female reproductive system

Silicon-based biomaterials have emerged as promising candidates for biomedical applications due to their unique physicochemical properties, biocompatibility, and versatility. Beyond their established role in electronics, silicon and its derivatives, particularly polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), porous silicon, and silicon nanostructures, are increasingly applied in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery. Their tunable surface chemistry, controllable degradation, and ability to be engineered into diverse architectures, including nanoparticles, nanowires, and porous scaffolds, enable targeted and multifunctional biomedical solutions. In reproductive medicine, silicon-based materials have gained attention for their use in physiologically relevant models, soft and hard-tissue scaffolds, ovarian and endometrial engineering, sperm sorting technologies, and microfluidic embryo culture systems, offering new opportunities to improve fertility preservation and assisted reproductive technologies. Despite these advances, challenges remain, including potential toxicity at the nanoscale, manufacturing scalability, reproducibility of complex silicon architectures, and navigating regulatory pathways. Addressing these barriers through rigorous evaluation and material optimisation will be crucial to realise the translational potential of silicon-based materials in reproductive health and broader biomedical applications.