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Updated: Jun 12, 2025
An Additive Manufacturing Technique for the Facile and Rapid Fabrication of Hydrogel-based Micromachines with Magnetically Responsive Components
Published on: July 18, 2018
Protocol for in situ 3D printing of liquid metal-hydrogel hybrid for multifunctional soft bioelectronics and devices
Caicai Jiao1, Qian Wang2, Liangtao Li2
1Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China; Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics, Flexible Electronics Innovation Institute, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang 330013, China.
Abstract:
3D printing methods allow for the fabrication of liquid metal (LM) wires, but additional encapsulation steps are required to obtain LM-based bioelectronics. Here, we present a protocol for in situ 3D printing of LM-hydrogel hybrids. We describe the steps to prepare gelatin-sodium alginate-potassium chloride (GSP) precursor solution. We then detail procedures for printing gallium (Ga) ink into GSP supporting matrix to form the LM-hydrogel hybrids. This protocol is adaptable to various room temperature LMs and allows printing of diverse LM structures. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Jiao et al.1.
