Journal
ACS POLYMERS AU
Volume 2, Issue 1, Pages 50-58Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acspolymersau.1c00037
Keywords
Mechanically adaptive; water-responsive; polymer; photolithography; photoresist; switchable properties; optogenetic; implant; waveguide
Categories
Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation [200020_172619, IZPIP0_177995]
- NCCR Bioinspired Materials [51NF40-182881]
- Adolphe Merkle Foundation
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [IZPIP0_177995, 200020_172619] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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Water-responsive polymers can alter their shape and mechanical properties based on swelling, but have limited processing options. By using a negative photoresist approach, complex-shaped objects can be produced and the cross-link density and refractive index can be adjusted under physiological conditions. This study provides a straightforward method for fabricating mechanically adaptive devices.
Water-responsive polymers, which enable the design of objects whose mechanical properties or shape can be altered upon moderate swelling, are useful for a broad range of applications. However, the limited processing options of materials that exhibit useful switchable mechanical properties generally restricted their application to objects having a simple geometry. Here we show that this problem can be overcome by using a negative photoresist approach in which a linear hydrophilic polymer is converted into a highly transparent cross-linked polymer network. The photolithographic process allows the facile production of objects of complex shape and permits programming of the cross-link density, the extent of aqueous swelling, and thereby the stiffness and refractive index under physiological conditions over a wide range and with high spatial resolution. Our findings validate a straightforward route to fabricate mechanically adaptive devices for a variety of (biomedical) uses, notably optogenetic implants whose overall shape, mechanical contrast, and optical channels can all be defined by photolithography.
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