Segmented, Side-Emitting Hydrogel Optical Fibers for Multimaterial Extrusion Printing

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Optics

Background:

• Side-emitting optical fibers require modulated properties along their length for customized light emission.
• Continuous processing of soft waveguides presents challenges in achieving tailored emission profiles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate multimaterial extrusion printing for fabricating hydrogel optical fibers with tailored segments for side-emission.
• To develop a method for creating customized side-emission profiles in soft optical fibers.

Main Methods:

• Utilized diacrylated Pluronic F-127 (PluDA) as the base material for hydrogel optical fibers.
• Employed multimaterial extrusion printing to create 1 mm diameter fibers by switching between PluDA waveguiding ink and PluDA scattering ink.
• Achieved segment lengths below 500 microns through controlled switching times during continuous printing.

Main Results:

• Successfully fabricated hydrogel optical fibers with distinct segments exhibiting tailored optical properties.
• Demonstrated customized side-emission profiles along the length of the printed fibers.
• Validated fiber functionality by exciting fluorescence within a surrounding 3D hydrogel.

Conclusions:

• Multimaterial extrusion printing offers unprecedented flexibility in designing soft optical fibers with customizable optical properties.
• The developed technology and material combination provide a simple process for creating advanced optical fibers.
• This approach holds potential for improving tissue illumination in photodynamic therapy (PDT).