3D printing biomimeticmaterials and structures for biomedical applications

Over millions of years of evolution,nature has created organisms with overwhelming performances due to their unique materials and structures,providing us with valuable inspirations for the development of next-generation biomedical devices.As a promising new technology,3D printing enables the fabrication of multiscale,multi-material,and multi-functional threedimensional(3D)biomimetic materials and structures with high precision and great flexibility.The manufacturing challenges of biomedical devices with advanced biomimetic materials and structures for various applications were overcome with the flourishing development of 3D printing technologies.In this paper,the state-of-the-art additive manufacturing of biomimetic materials and structures in the field of biomedical engineering were overviewed.Various kinds of biomedical applications,including implants,lab-on-chip,medicine,microvascular network,and artificial organs and tissues,were respectively discussed.The technical challenges and limitations of biomimetic additive manufacturing in biomedical applications were further investigated,and the potential solutions and intriguing future technological developments of biomimetic 3D printing of biomedical devices were highlighted.

3D printing of hydroxyapatite/tricalcium phosphate scaffold with hierarchical porous structure for bone regeneration

Three-dimensional(3D)-printed scaffolds have attracted considerable attention in recent years as they provide a suitable environment for bone cell tissue regeneration and can be customized in shape.Among many other challenges,the material composition and geometric structure have major impacts on the performance of scaffolds.Hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate(HA/TCP),as the major constituents of natural bone and teeth,possess attractive biological properties and are widely used in bone scaffold fabrication.Many fabrication methods have been investigated in attempts to achieve HA/TCP scaffolds with microporous structure enabling cell growth and nutrient transport.However,current 3D printing methods can only achieve the fabrication of HA/TCP scaffolds with certain range of microporous structure.To overcome this challenge,we developed a slurry-based microscale mask image projection stereolithography,allowing us to form a HA/TCP-based photocurable suspension with complex geometry including biomimetic features and hierarchical porosity.Here,the curing performance and physical properties of the HA/TCP suspension were investigated,and a circular movement process for the fabrication of highly viscous HA/TCP suspension was developed.Based on these investigations,the scaffold composition was optimized.We determined that a 30 wt%HA/TCP scaffold with biomimetic hierarchical structure exhibited superior mechanical properties and porosity.Cell proliferation was investigated in vitro,and the surgery was conducted in a nude mouse in vivo model of long bone with cranial neural crest cells and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.The results showed our 3D-printed HA/TCP scaffold with biomimetic hierarchical structure is biocompatible and has sufficient mechanical strength for surgery.

3D Printing of Nacre-Inspired Structures with Exceptional Mechanical and Flame-Retardant Properties

Flame-retardant and thermal management structures have attracted great attention duc to the requirement of high-temperature exposure in industrial,aerospace,and thermal power fields,but the development of protoctive fire-retardant structures with complex shapes to fit arbitrary surfaces is still challenging.Herein,we reported a rotation-blade casting-assisted 3D printing process to fabricate nacre-inspired structures with exceptional mechanical and flame-retardant properties,and the relatedi fundamental mechanisms are studied.3-(Trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate(TMSPMA)modified boron nitride nanoplatelets(BNs)were aligned by rotation-blade casting during the 3D printing process to build the"hrick and mortar"architecture.The 3D printed structures are more lightweight,while having higher fracture toughness than the natural nacre,which is attributed to the crack deflection,aligned BN(a-BNs)bridging,and pull-outs reinforced structures by the covalent bonding between TMSPMA grafted a-BNs and polymer matrix.Thermal conductivity is enhanced by 25.5 times compared with pure polymer and 5.8 times of anisotropy due to the interconnection of a-BNs.3D printed heat-exchange structures with vertically aligned BNs in complex shapes were demonstrated for efficient thermal control of high-power light-emitting diocles.3D printed helmet and armor with a-BNs show exceptional mechanical and fire-retardant properties,demonstrating integrated mechanical and thermal protection.

Second harmonic generation of laser beams in transverse mode locking states

Nonlinear frequency conversion of structured beams has been of great interest recently.We present an intracavity second harmonic generation(SHG)of laser beams in transverse mode locking(TML)states with a specially designed sandwich such as a microchip laser.The intracavity nonlinear frequency conversion process of a laser beam in a TML state to its second harmonic is theoretically and experimentally investigated,considering different relative phase and weight parameters between the basic modes in the TML beam.Comparison between the far-field SHG beam patterns of fundamental frequency transverse modes in coherently locked and incoherently superposed states demonstrates that the SHG of TML beams can carry more information.Various rarely observed far-field SHG beam patterns are obtained,and they are consistent with the theoretical analysis and numerical simulations.With the obtained SHG beams,the characteristics of the structured fundamental frequency beams can also be conversely investigated or predicted.This work may have important applications in optical 3D printing,optical trapping of particles,and free-space optical communication areas.