Abstract
Embedded ink writing (EIW) is an emerging 3D printing technique that fabricates complex 3D structures from various biomaterial inks but is limited to a printing speed of ∼10 mm s−1 due to suboptimal rheological properties of particulate-dominated yield-stress fluids when used as liquid baths. In this work, a particle-hydrogel interactive system to design advanced baths with enhanced yield stress and extended thixotropic response time for realizing high-speed EIW is developed. In this system, the interactions between particle additive and three representative polymeric hydrogels enable the resulting nanocomposites to demonstrate different rheological behaviors. Accordingly, the interaction models for the nanocomposites are established, which are subsequently validated by macroscale rheological measurements and advanced microstructure characterization techniques. Filament formation mechanisms in the particle-hydrogel interactive baths are comprehensively investigated at high printing speeds. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed high-speed EIW method, an anatomic-size human kidney construct is successfully printed at 110 mm s−1, which only takes ∼4 h. This work breaks the printing speed barrier in current EIW and propels the maximum printing speed by at least 10 times, providing an efficient and promising solution for organ reconstruction in the future.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2405980 |
| Journal | Advanced Science |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 13 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 3 2025 |
Funding
W. H. and C. Z. contributed equally to this work. The SEM/EDS research was conducted as part of a user project at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This research also used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. L. R. would like to acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program through NSHE sub-award number: AWD0002282-1937966. R. C. would like to acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program through NSHE sub-award number: AWD01-00002282. D. Z. would like to acknowledge the support of the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFA0703000) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52175289). Y. J. would like to acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (OIA-2229004). H. C. and Y. W. acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Foundation EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Program (OIA-2033424). W. H. and C. Z. contributed equally to this work. The SEM/EDS research was conducted as part of a user project at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This research also used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. L. R. would like to acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program through NSHE sub‐award number: AWD0002282‐1937966. R. C. would like to acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program through NSHE sub‐award number: AWD01‐00002282. D. Z. would like to acknowledge the support of the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFA0703000) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52175289). Y. J. would like to acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (OIA‐2229004). H. C. and Y. W. acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Foundation EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Program (OIA‐2033424).
Keywords
- embedded ink writing
- high-speed printing
- organ reconstruction
- particle-hydrogel interactions
- yield-stress fluids