Fabrication and Characterization of Porous Microneedles for Enhanced Fluid Injection and Suction: A Two-Photon Polymerization Approach

Porous microneedles (MNs) offer broad advantages such as fluid capture and filtration. Compared to hollow MNs, fluid injection through porous MNs causes a broader diffusion spread. Herein, three MN designs with a constant pore size and controlled pore locations are fabricated and compared, using two-photon polymerization (2PP), by examining factors such as diffusion spread, mixing capabilities, and mechanical resilience. Results show that the porous MN can cover 16 times the injection area than that of the hollow MN. Porous MNs also show good mixing capabilities with two fluids. Mechanical compression results reveal that one porous MN can withstand a load of 0.6 N.

Automated summary

This study investigates the design and fabrication of porous microneedles (MNs) and finds that injection through porous MNs results in a broader diffusion spread compared to hollow MNs. Three different designs of porous MNs with a constant pore size and controlled pore locations are fabricated using two-photon polymerization (2PP), and factors such as diffusion spread, mixing capabilities, and mechanical resilience are examined. The results show that porous MNs can cover 16 times the injection area of hollow MNs and demonstrate good mixing capabilities and mechanical strength.