Premium
Hydrocolloid Inks for 3D Printing of Porous Hydrogels
Author(s) -
Sears Nicholas A.,
Wilems Thomas S.,
Gold Karli A.,
Lan Ziyang,
Cereceres Stacy N.,
Dhavalikar Prachi S.,
Foudazi Reza,
CosgriffHernandez Elizabeth M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced materials technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.184
H-Index - 42
ISSN - 2365-709X
DOI - 10.1002/admt.201800343
Subject(s) - materials science , self healing hydrogels , gelatin , porosity , photopolymer , 3d printing , polymer , emulsion , ethylene glycol , polymerization , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , composite material , polymer chemistry , chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
A new methodology is presented for generating hydrocolloid inks, emulsions of hydrogel precursor solutions with mineral oil, for solid freeform fabrication of porous hydrogel scaffolds. These hydrocolloid inks exhibit viscoplastic behavior and rapid photopolymerization that permit high fidelity printing of complex geometries. Hydrocolloid inks based on poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate are utilized to fabricate custom scaffolds using open source 3D printing software and customized paste extruder with cure‐on‐dispense capabilities. Scaffolds exhibit a hierarchical porosity from the microscale emulsion templated pores to the macroscale lattice structure and geometry programmed into the printing process. The extensibility of this system is also demonstrated by creating hydrocolloid inks from a range of natural hydrogel solutions including cellulose, gelatin, alginate, and hyaluronic acid. Unlike other methods of modulating hydrogel rheology to increase printability, these versatile hydrocolloid inks enable high fidelity printing of hydrogels without relying on high polymer concentrations or complex polymerization mechanisms.