Segmented, Side-Emitting Hydrogel Optical Fibers for Multimaterial Extrusion Printing
© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.
| Veröffentlicht in: | Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.). - 1998. - (2024) vom: 04. Dez., Seite e2309166 |
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| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Weitere Verfasser: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Online-Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2024
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| Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk: | Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) |
| Schlagworte: | Journal Article hydrogel extrusion printing hydrogel waveguide multimaterial printing photoactivation side‐emitting optical fiber |
| Zusammenfassung: | © 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH. Side-emitting optical fibers allow light to be deliberately outcoupled along the fiber. Introducing a customized side-emission profile requires modulation of the guiding and emitting properties along the fiber length, which is a particular challenge in continuous processing of soft waveguides. In this work, it is demonstrated that multimaterial extrusion printing can generate hydrogel optical fibers with tailored segments for light-side emission. The fibers are based on diacrylated Pluronic F-127 (PluDA). 1 mm diameter fibers are printed with segments of different optical properties by switching between a PluDA waveguiding ink and a PluDA scattering ink containing nanoparticles. The method allows the fabrication of fibers with segment lengths below 500 microns in a continuous process. The length of the segments is tailored by varying the switching time between inks during printing. Fibers with customized side-emission profiles along their length are presented. The functionality of the printed fibers is demonstrated by exciting fluorescence inside a surrounding 3D hydrogel. The presented technology and material combination allow unprecedented flexibility for designing soft optical fibers with customizable optical properties using simple processes and a medical material. This approach can be of interest to improve illumination inside tissues for photodynamic therapy (PDT) |
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| Beschreibung: | Date Revised 05.12.2024 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status Publisher |
| ISSN: | 1521-4095 |
| DOI: | 10.1002/adma.202309166 |