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3D printing of inherently nanoporous polymers via polymerization-induced phase separation.

ABSTRACT: 3D printing offers enormous flexibility in fabrication of polymer objects with complex geometries. However, it is not suitable for fabricating large polymer structures with geometrical features at the sub-micrometer scale. Porous structure at the sub-micrometer scale can render macroscopic objects with unique properties, including similarities with biological interfaces, permeability and extremely large surface area, imperative inter alia for adsorption, separation, sensing or biomedical applications. Here, we introduce a method combining advantages of 3D printing via digital light processing and polymerization-induced phase separation, which enables formation of 3D polymer structures of digitally defined macroscopic geometry with controllable inherent porosity at the sub-micrometer scale. We demonstrate the possibility to create 3D polymer structures of highly complex geometries and spatially controlled pore sizes from 10?nm to 1000?µm. Produced hierarchical polymers combining nanoporosity with micrometer-sized pores demonstrate improved adsorption performance due to better pore accessibility and favored cell adhesion and growth for 3D cell culture due to surface porosity. This method extends the scope of applications of 3D printing to hierarchical inherently porous 3D objects combining structural features ranging from 10?nm up to cm, making them available for a wide variety of applications.

SUBMITTER: Dong Z

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7801408 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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3D printing of inherently nanoporous polymers via polymerization-induced phase separation.

Dong Zheqin Z Cui Haijun H Zhang Haodong H Wang Fei F Zhan Xiang X Mayer Frederik F Nestler Britta B Wegener Martin M Levkin Pavel A PA

Nature communications 20210111 1

3D printing offers enormous flexibility in fabrication of polymer objects with complex geometries. However, it is not suitable for fabricating large polymer structures with geometrical features at the sub-micrometer scale. Porous structure at the sub-micrometer scale can render macroscopic objects with unique properties, including similarities with biological interfaces, permeability and extremely large surface area, imperative inter alia for adsorption, separation, sensing or biomedical applica ...[more]

PMID: 33431911

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Project description:Background3D printers have gained prominence in rapid prototyping and viable in creating dimensionally accurate objects that are both safe within a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) environment and visible in MRI scans. A challenge when making MRI-visible objects using 3D printing is that hard plastics are invisible in standard MRI scans, while fluids are not. So typically, a hollow object will be printed and filled with a liquid that will be visible in MRI scans. This poses an engineering challenge however since objects created using traditional Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D-printing techniques are prone to leakage. Digital Light Processing (DLP) is a relatively modern and affordable 3D-printing technique using UV-hardened resin, capable of creating objects that are inherently liquid-tight. When printing hollow parts using DLP printers, one typically requires adding drainage holes for uncured liquid resin to escape during the printing process. If this is not done liquid resin will remain inside the object, which in our application is the desired outcome.PurposeWe devised a method to produce an inherently MRI-visible accessory using DLP technology with low dimensional tolerance to facilitate MRI-guided breast biopsies.MethodsBy hollowing out the object without adding drainage holes and tuning printing parameters such as z-lift distance to retain as much uncured liquid resin inside as possible through surface tension, objects that are inherently visible in MRI scans can be created without further post-processing treatment.ResultsObjects created through our method are simple and inexpensive to recreate, have minimal manufacturing steps, and are shown to be dimensionally exact and inherently MRI visible to be directly used in various applications without further treatment.ConclusionOur proposed method of manufacturing objects that are inherently both MRI safe, and MRI visible. The proposed process is simple and does not require additional materials and tools beyond a DLP 3D-printer. With only an inexpensive DLP 3D-printer kit and basic cleaning and sanitation materials found in the hospital, we have demonstrated the viability of our process by successfully creating an object containing fine structures with low spatial tolerances used for MRI-guided breast biopsies.

Dataset Information

3D printing of inherently nanoporous polymers via polymerization-induced phase separation.

Publications

3D printing of inherently nanoporous polymers via polymerization-induced phase separation.

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