Direct Ink Write (DIW) 3D Printed Cellulose Nanocrystal Aerogel Structures.

ABSTRACT: Pure cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) aerogels with controlled 3D structures and inner pore architecture are printed using the direct ink write (DIW) technique. While traditional cellulosic aerogel processing approaches lack the ability to easily fabricate complete aerogel structures, DIW 3D printing followed by freeze drying can overcome this shortcoming and can produce CNC aerogels with minimal structural shrinkage or damage. The resultant products have great potential in applications such as tissue scaffold templates, drug delivery, packaging, etc., due to their inherent sustainability, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Various 3D structures are successfully printed without support material, and the print quality can be improved with increasing CNC concentration and printing resolution

SUBMITTER: Li VC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5556020 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature