Constructing 3D heterogeneous hydrogels from electrically manipulated prepolymer droplets and crosslinked microgels.

ABSTRACT: Formation of multifunctional, heterogeneous, and encoded hydrogel building blocks, or microgels, by crosslinking and assembly of microgels are two essential steps in establishing hierarchical, complicated, and three-dimensional (3D) hydrogel architectures that recapitulate natural and biological structures or originate new materials by design. However, for the variety of the hydrogel materials crosslinked differently and for the varied scales of microgels and architectures, the formation and assembly processes are usually performed separately, which increases the manufacturing complexity of designed hydrogel materials. We show the construction of hydrogel architectures through programmable formation and assembly on an electromicrofluidic platform, adopting two reciprocal electric manipulat

SUBMITTER: Chiang MY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5091359 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature