Journal: Small Methods

Article Title: Multi‐Material Droplet‐Based Hydrogel Threads for Extrusion 3D Printing

doi: 10.1002/smtd.202500928

Figure Lengend Snippet: Hydrogel structures assembled from microliter droplets brought together by means of droplet interface bilayers (DIBs). a) A DIB‐assembled droplet network can be manually formed using a pipette or automatically with an inkjet printing nozzle. [ ⁹ ] When deposited in a phospholipid‐infused oil solution, the aqueous droplets get encased with lipid monolayers at their surfaces. [ ⁹ ] When two or more droplets come into contact, a lipid bilayer forms between them rather than coalescing. b) A continuous DIB‐assembled droplet thread can be formed for multi‐material printing using a microfluidic chip. Initially, aqueous droplets are generated through microfluidic T‐junctions and form monolayers as they travel through the meander region within the chip. Excess oil is then removed as the droplets pass through the siphoning region, causing them to come closer together and touch, forming lipid bilayers. Finally, the assembled droplet thread is printed in a vat containing oil infused with phospholipids. c) Pre‐hydrogel solutions are polymerized to create a continuous multi‐material hydrogel by disrupting the lipid bilayers that connect adjacent droplets. The final homogeneous hydrogel structure is then transferred into an aqueous solution.

Article Snippet: Microfluidic chips were designed in Autodesk Inventor (Figure , Supporting Information) and 3D printed with an Anycubic M3+ DLP printer.

Techniques: Transferring, Generated