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4D Printing of a Bioadhesive Shape Memory Elastomer.
Sonia Norouzi Esfahany1, Alireza Mahjoubnia1, Zehua Chen2
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
Chemical Engineering Journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996)
|January 2, 2026
Summary
Researchers developed a 4D-printed, bioadhesive shape memory elastomer (SME) using digital light processing. This advanced material offers tunable properties for applications in soft electronics, tissue engineering, and wound healing.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Additive Manufacturing
Background:
- Biomedical applications require advanced tissue adhesives with high stretchability, flexibility, and adhesion.
- Existing materials often struggle to meet these demanding requirements simultaneously.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel bioadhesive shape memory elastomer (SME) via 4D printing for enhanced biomedical applications.
- To investigate the tunable mechanical and adhesive properties of the synthesized SME.
Main Methods:
- Digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing was employed to fabricate the SME.
- The ink formulation included N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP), dodecyl acrylate (DA), and a novel Poly(ethylene glycol-co-dodecanedioic acid) diacrylate (AcP) prepolymer as a crosslinker.
- Mechanical testing, adhesion strength measurements, and thermal transition temperature analysis were performed.
Main Results:
- The synthesized poly(AcP-DA-NVP) SME demonstrated tunable transition temperatures (9-68 °C), Young's modulus up to 24 MPa, and tensile strength of ~18.5 MPa.
- Exceptional stretchability of ~700% and robust adhesion strengths of ~600 kPa (to aluminum foils) and 90 kPa (to porcine skin) were achieved.
- The material exhibited shape-programmable characteristics.
Conclusions:
- The 4D-printed bioadhesive SME offers a unique combination of stretchability, flexibility, adhesion, and shape-memory properties.
- This material shows significant potential as an adhesive substrate for on-skin soft electronics.
- Further applications in tissue engineering, wound healing, and biomedical implantation are promising.
