Photocrosslinkable polymers have been exploited to attain impressive advantages in printing freestanding,micrometer-scale,mechanically compliant features.However,a more integrated understanding of both the polymer pho...Photocrosslinkable polymers have been exploited to attain impressive advantages in printing freestanding,micrometer-scale,mechanically compliant features.However,a more integrated understanding of both the polymer photochemistry and the microfabrication processes could enable new strategic design avenues,unlocking far-reaching applications of the light-based modality of additive manufacturing.One promising approach for achieving high-aspect-ratio structures is to leverage the phenomenon of light self-trapping during the photopolymerization process.In this review,we discuss the design of materials that facilitate this optical behavior,the computational modeling and practical processing considerations to achieve high aspect-ratio structures,and the range of applications that can benefit from architectures fabricated using light self-trapping-especially those demanding free-standing structures and materials of stiffnesses relevant in biological applications.Coupled interactions exist among material attributes,including polymer composition,and processing parameters such as light intensity.We identify strong opportunities for predictive design of both the material and the process.Overall,this perspective describes the wide range of existing polymers and additive manufacturing approaches,and highlights various future directions to enable constructs with new complexities and functionalities through the development of next-generation photocrosslinkable materials and micromanufacturing methods.展开更多
基金M.Y.acknowledges the Angela Leong Fellowship Fund 2021-2022 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.K.K.acknowledges the financial support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada(award no.PDF-529703-2019)S.K.acknowledges the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF)grant funded by the Korean government(MSIT)(No.2019R1A5A8083201 and 2022R1C1C1003966)。
文摘Photocrosslinkable polymers have been exploited to attain impressive advantages in printing freestanding,micrometer-scale,mechanically compliant features.However,a more integrated understanding of both the polymer photochemistry and the microfabrication processes could enable new strategic design avenues,unlocking far-reaching applications of the light-based modality of additive manufacturing.One promising approach for achieving high-aspect-ratio structures is to leverage the phenomenon of light self-trapping during the photopolymerization process.In this review,we discuss the design of materials that facilitate this optical behavior,the computational modeling and practical processing considerations to achieve high aspect-ratio structures,and the range of applications that can benefit from architectures fabricated using light self-trapping-especially those demanding free-standing structures and materials of stiffnesses relevant in biological applications.Coupled interactions exist among material attributes,including polymer composition,and processing parameters such as light intensity.We identify strong opportunities for predictive design of both the material and the process.Overall,this perspective describes the wide range of existing polymers and additive manufacturing approaches,and highlights various future directions to enable constructs with new complexities and functionalities through the development of next-generation photocrosslinkable materials and micromanufacturing methods.
