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

Autor: Kafrashian Z; INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany.; Saarland University, Chemistry Department, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany., Brück S; INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany., Rogin P; INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany., Khamdan M; INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany., Farrukh HSUB; INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany.; Saarland University, Chemistry Department, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany., Pearson S; INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany., Del Campo A; INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany.; Saarland University, Chemistry Department, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) [Adv Mater] 2024 Dec 04, pp. e2309166. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Dec 04.
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202309166
Abstrakt: Side-emitting optical fibers allow light to be deliberately outcoupled along the fiber. Introducing a customized side-emission profile requires modulation of the guiding and emitting properties along the fiber length, which is a particular challenge in continuous processing of soft waveguides. In this work, it is demonstrated that multimaterial extrusion printing can generate hydrogel optical fibers with tailored segments for light-side emission. The fibers are based on diacrylated Pluronic F-127 (PluDA). 1 mm diameter fibers are printed with segments of different optical properties by switching between a PluDA waveguiding ink and a PluDA scattering ink containing nanoparticles. The method allows the fabrication of fibers with segment lengths below 500 microns in a continuous process. The length of the segments is tailored by varying the switching time between inks during printing. Fibers with customized side-emission profiles along their length are presented. The functionality of the printed fibers is demonstrated by exciting fluorescence inside a surrounding 3D hydrogel. The presented technology and material combination allow unprecedented flexibility for designing soft optical fibers with customizable optical properties using simple processes and a medical material. This approach can be of interest to improve illumination inside tissues for photodynamic therapy (PDT).
(© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: