Improving Printability of a Thermoresponsive Hydrogel Biomaterial Ink by Nanoclay Addition

12 May 2020, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

As a promising biofabrication technology, extrusion-based bioprinting has gained significant attention in the last decade and major advances have been made in the development of bioinks. However suitable synthetic and stimuli-responsive bioinks are underrepresented in this context. In this work, we described a hybrid system of nanoclay Laponite XLG and thermoresponsive block copolymer poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline)-b-poly(2-n-propyl-2-oxazine) (PMeOx-b-PnPrOzi) as a novel biomaterial ink, and discussed its critical properties relevant for extrusion-based bioprinting, including viscoelastic properties and printability. The hybrid hydrogel retains the thermogelling properties but is strengthened by the added clay (over 5 kPa of storage modulus, and 240 Pa of yield stress). Importantly, the shear-thinning character is further enhanced, which, in combination with very rapid viscosity recovery (~1 s) and structure recovery (~10 s) is highly beneficial for extrusion-based 3D printing. Accordingly, various 3D patterns could be printed with markedly enhanced resolution and shape fidelity compared to the biomaterial ink without added clay.

Keywords

hydrogel
hydrogel modification
hydrogel fabrication techniques
3D printing materials
biomaterial
thermogelling material
shear-thinning properties
shape fidelity
biofabrication

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