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Authors
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Weigel, N.; Grigoryev, E.; Fertala, N.; Thiele, J.
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Title
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Fabrication of thermoresponsive and multimaterial hydrogel sheets by spatially controlled aspiration and interconnection of microgel building blocks
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Date
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16.05.2023
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Number
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0
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Abstract
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Polymer materials made from hierarchically assembled building blocks form a promising material class for engineering complex systems with integrated functionality for biological or electronic applications. Herein, this work utilizes an aspiration-based process involving a hole-bearing glass plate to align and interconnect acrylamide- and N-isopropylacrylamide-based microgels fabricated via emulsion formation in 3D-printed microfluidics. By tuning hole diameter and inter-hole distance as well as microgel deformability, mechanically stable, freestanding microgel constructs are obtained, which withstand shaking, ultrasonication, and swelling–shrinking cycles. By segmentally controlling aspiration at the hole-bearing glass plate, freestanding multimaterial sheets consisting of two different microgel species are obtained. The microgel assembly process is the first step toward fabricating hydrogel-based materials with spatially controlled functionality, which is an essential step toward system integration in polymer materials.
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Publisher
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Advanced Materials Technologies
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Wikidata
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Citation
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Advanced Materials Technologies 8 (2023) 2300374
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DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202300374
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Tags
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