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Large Scale Production of Continuous Hydrogel Fibers with Anisotropic Swelling Behavior by Dynamic‐Crosslinking‐Spinning
Author(s) -
Hou Kai,
Wang Huiyi,
Lin Yunyin,
Chen Shaohua,
Yang Shengyuan,
Cheng Yanhua,
Hsiao Benjamin S.,
Zhu Meifang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201600430
Subject(s) - microfiber , materials science , spinning , ethylene glycol , self healing hydrogels , swelling , fiber , biomaterial , anisotropy , fabrication , composite material , nanoscopic scale , microfluidics , oligomer , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , optics , medicine , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
Hydrogel microfibers have been considered as a potential biomaterial to spatiotemporally biomimic 1D native tissues such as nerves and muscles which are always assembled hierarchically and have anisotropic response to external stimuli. To produce facile hydrogel microfibers in a mathematical manner, a novel dynamic‐crosslinking‐spinning (DCS) method is demonstrated for direct fabrication of size‐controllable fibers from poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate) oligomer in large scale, without microfluidic template and in a biofriendly environment. The diameter of fibers can be precisely controlled by adjusting the spinning parameters. Anisotropic swelling property is also dependent on inhomogeneous structure generated in spinning process. Comparing with bulk hydrogels, the resulting fibers exhibit superior rapid water adsorption property, which can be attributed to the large surface area/volume ratio of fiber. This novel DCS method is one‐step technology suitable for large‐scale production of anisotropic hydrogel fibers which has a promising application in the area such as biomaterials.