Digital light processing(DLP)of structurally complex poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG)hydrogels with high mechanical toughness represents a long-standing challenge in thefield of 3D printing.Here,we report a 3D printing appro...Digital light processing(DLP)of structurally complex poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG)hydrogels with high mechanical toughness represents a long-standing challenge in thefield of 3D printing.Here,we report a 3D printing approach for the high-resolution manufacturing of structurally complex and mechanically strong PEG hydrogels via heat-assisted DLP.Instead of using aqueous solutions of photo-crosslinkable monomers,PEG macromonomer melts werefirst printed in the absence of water,resulting in bulk PEG networks.Then,post-printing swelling of the printed networks was achieved in water,producing high-fidelity 3D hydrogels with complex structures.By employing a dual-macromonomer resin containing a PEG-based four-arm macrophotoinitiator,“all-PEG”hydrogel constructs were pro-duced with compressive toughness up to 1.3 MJ m^(-3).By this approach,porous 3D hydrogel scaffolds with trabecular-like architecture were fabricated,and the scaf-fold surface supported cell attachment and the formation of a monolayer mimicking bone-lining cells.This study highlights the promises of heat-assisted DLP of PEG photopolymers for hydrogel fabrication,which may accelerate the development of 3D tissue-like constructs for regenerative medicine.展开更多
基金financial support(Sinergia No.177178 and research project No.315230_197644/1)financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation(No.190345,188522 and 206501)financial support from China Scholarship Council(CSC,No.202006790027).
文摘Digital light processing(DLP)of structurally complex poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG)hydrogels with high mechanical toughness represents a long-standing challenge in thefield of 3D printing.Here,we report a 3D printing approach for the high-resolution manufacturing of structurally complex and mechanically strong PEG hydrogels via heat-assisted DLP.Instead of using aqueous solutions of photo-crosslinkable monomers,PEG macromonomer melts werefirst printed in the absence of water,resulting in bulk PEG networks.Then,post-printing swelling of the printed networks was achieved in water,producing high-fidelity 3D hydrogels with complex structures.By employing a dual-macromonomer resin containing a PEG-based four-arm macrophotoinitiator,“all-PEG”hydrogel constructs were pro-duced with compressive toughness up to 1.3 MJ m^(-3).By this approach,porous 3D hydrogel scaffolds with trabecular-like architecture were fabricated,and the scaf-fold surface supported cell attachment and the formation of a monolayer mimicking bone-lining cells.This study highlights the promises of heat-assisted DLP of PEG photopolymers for hydrogel fabrication,which may accelerate the development of 3D tissue-like constructs for regenerative medicine.
