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Volume 6
Research & Reviews: Journal of Material Sciences
ISSN: 2321-6212
Advanced Materials 2018
September 04-06, 2018
September 04-06, 2018 | Zürich, Switzerland
21
st
International Conference on
Advanced Materials & Nanotechnology
Strong hydrogels fabricated by 3D printing with oppositely charged polymers
Lin Li and Huijun Li
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
H
ydrogels are commonly used to prepare bioinks, as they are soft and hydrophilic as well as possess similarities to biological
tissues. Natural hydrogels, such as alginate, gelatin, collagen and chitosan, which show good biocompatibility with
nontoxic degradation products, have received great attention in the field of biomedical engineering. However, these natural
hydrogels have limitations for their broad applications because they are weak by nature. Therefore, many studies focus on
improving mechanical properties of hydrogels. 3D printing is a layer-by-layer printing process, where there are often layer
defects or weak interface adhesion in 3D printed layered structures with hydrogels. As a new approach, alternate printing of
two kinds of hydrogels maybe possible to overcome the drawbacks of printing one hydrogel alone. Furthermore, alternate
printing of two oppositely charged ionic hydrogels is expected to result in a strong interface adhesion between layers, but it
has not been found in the literature. In this study, we report a new strategy and approach for fabrication of strong hydrogel
constructs with strong interfacial bonding by utilizing the ionic interaction between two oppositely charged hydrogels. Six
natural ionic polymers are chosen as the representatives of anionic and cationic hydrogels, respectively. Specific properties
such as rheological properties of the prepared hydrogels, shape fidelity of a printed structure, structure integrity of a printed
construct in the cell culture medium are investigated. These properties help us to find the best concentration of each hydrogel
and the best combinations for bioprinting. The interfacial adhesion properties between the printed hydrogel layers are also
examined. Additionally, the biocompatibility of the best pair of bioink is also investigated.
mlli@ntu.edu.sgRes. Rev. J Mat. Sci. 2018, Volume 6
DOI: 10.4172/2321-6212-C3-021