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Direct Laser Writing Photonic Crystal Hydrogels with a Supramolecular Sacrificial Scaffold.
Yi Zeng1, Keliang Liu1, Haibo Ding1
1State Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)
|September 12, 2023
Summary
Researchers developed a new method to create 3D photonic crystal hydrogels (PCHs) using a sacrificial agarose scaffold and two-photon lithography. This enables advanced structural designs for novel PCH applications, including mechanical microsensors.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Photonic crystal hydrogels (PCHs) are utilized as stimulus-responsive colorimetric sensors.
- Current PCH fabrication methods are limited to simple geometries at the sub-millimeter scale.
- This restricts structural design and advanced applications of PCH sensors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a microfabrication technique for creating three-dimensional (3D) PCHs with complex geometries.
- To utilize supramolecular agarose PCH as a sacrificial scaffold for precise 3D fabrication.
- To demonstrate the application of this method in creating novel structural-designed PCH mechanical microsensors.
Main Methods:
- Microfabrication of 3D PCHs using two-photon lithography (TPL).
- Employing supramolecular agarose PCH as a sacrificial scaffold.
- Formulating PCHs with SiO2 colloidal nanoparticles and agarose solutions.
Main Results:
- Achieved fabrication of 3D PCHs with precise and complex geometries.
- Demonstrated bright structural color in the fabricated PCHs.
- Successfully created structural-designed PCH mechanical microsensors, an unexplored application.
Conclusions:
- A novel, economical, and efficient method for fabricating 3D PCHs with intricate designs was established.
- The sacrificial scaffold approach overcomes limitations of traditional PCH fabrication.
- This technique opens new avenues for advanced PCH applications, particularly in microsensing.
