Abstract
The development of new bio-based inks is a stringent request for the expansion of additive manufacturing towards the development of 3D-printed biocompatible hydrogels. Herein, methacrylated carboxymethyl cellulose (M-CMC) is investigated as a bio-based photocurable ink for digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing. CMC is chemically modified using methacrylic anhydride. Successful methacrylation is confirmed by 1H NMR and FTIR spectroscopy. Aqueous formulations based on M-CMC/lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP) photoinitiator and M-CMC/Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM)/LAP show high photoreactivity upon UV irradiation as confirmed by photorheology and FTIR. The same formulations can be easily 3D-printed through a DLP apparatus to produce 3D shaped hydrogels with excellent swelling ability and mechanical properties. Envisaging the application of the hydrogels in the biomedical field, cytotoxicity is also evaluated. The light-induced printing of cellulose-based hydrogels represents a significant step forward in the production of new DLP inks suitable for biomedical applications.
Highlights
Additive manufacturing (AM) has rapidly changed from being a scientific interest to an industrially viable manufacturing process
The development of bio-based photocurable materials suitable for 3D printing is a stringent request for the expansion of this brilliant production technique
A new ink for digital light processing (DLP) printing starting from lignocellulosic-based materials was successfully pursued
Summary
Additive manufacturing (AM) has rapidly changed from being a scientific interest to an industrially viable manufacturing process. The incredible success of 3D printing is mainly due to the possibility of building objects from 3D model data, with complex geometry, accurate resolution and relatively short execution time [1,2]. These intriguing advantages make 3D printing suitable for a variety of applications [3], ranging from the aerospace and automotive industries [4,5] to the biomedical field [6] in which the possibility of producing custom-made objects, models or devices can bring about enormous improvements [7,8,9,10]. A common DLP/SL 3D-printable formulation is composed of a mixture of monomers (commonly acrylates), a light-sensitive initiator, and eventually, a dye
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