Direct laser writing: Principles and materials for scaffold 3D printing

For a great variety of research fields extending from photonics to tissue engineering applications, the requests for the construction of three-dimensional structures with high resolution grow more and more imperative. Towards this aim, the direct laser writing technique by multi-photon polymerization, due to its unique properties and characteristics, has proven to be an indispensable tool to high accuracy structuring and has been put on the map as an emerging technology for scaffold 3D printing. In the present review, the basic principles of multi-photon polymerization are presented, the experimental set-up requirements are described and the employed materials demands are thoroughly mentioned as well as the most representative examples of the recent developments in the field. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.