Integration of Biofunctional Molecules into 3D-Printed Polymeric Micro-/Nanostructures

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Micro-/nanoscale 3D printing is crucial for fabricating nanoscale objects.
• FluidFM combines microfluidics and atomic force microscopy for hierarchical polymer structure fabrication.
• The impact of substrates and functional group integration on printed structures requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of substrate wetting properties on micro-/nanostructure printing.
• To assess the integration of functional groups (rhodamine, biotin) into polymer inks.
• To demonstrate the retained functionality of printed structures for bio-applications.

Main Methods:

• Micro-/nanostructure printing using FluidFM on surfaces with varying wetting properties.
• Integration of rhodamine and biotin functional groups into polymer inks.
• Characterization of printed structures' lateral feature sizes and mechanical properties.
• Assessment of streptavidin binding to biotin-functionalized structures after UV curing.

Main Results:

• Substrate hydrophilicity significantly influenced printing results, with larger lateral feature sizes on more hydrophilic surfaces.
• Ink modification with functional groups caused only minor changes in the stiffness of printed structures.
• Functionalized printed structures demonstrated selective streptavidin binding, confirming retained bio-functionality.

Conclusions:

• FluidFM enables the fabrication of functionalized micro-/nanostructures with tunable feature sizes.
• The approach allows for specific protein interactions without compromising mechanical properties, suitable for bio-applications.
• This technique offers flexibility in substrate selection and eliminates post-processing for functionalized 3D printed structures.