Facile tuning of the mechanical properties of a biocompatible soft material.
Facile tuning of the mechanical properties of a biocompatible soft material.
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轻松调节生物相容性软材料的机械性能。
DOI：
10.1038/s41598-019-43579-8
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发表时间：
2019
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Vigolo D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Vigolo D
在这里，我们介绍了一种通过利用局部温度梯度引起的效应来局部修改软的生物相容性材料的机械性能的方法。在我们的假设中，这在含有碳酸钙颗粒的海藻酸钠水溶液中引起浓度梯度，限制在微流控通道内。然后通过形成稳定的海藻酸钙水凝胶来固定浓度梯度。水凝胶形成的过程是通过在2层微流控装置中扩散酸性油溶液通过可透膜，从而降低pH值并释放钙离子来启动的。我们利用原子力显微镜纳米压痕测量表征了各种材料成分和热条件下的机械性能梯度。值得注意的是，我们的新方法能够在小尺度上产生陡峭的机械性能梯度（通常在10-100 kPa/mm之间），这将在一系列组织工程和细胞机械传感研究中具有重要意义。
Herein, we introduce a method to locally modify the mechanical properties of a soft, biocompatible material through the exploitation of the effects induced by the presence of a local temperature gradient. In our hypotheses, this induces a concentration gradient in an aqueous sodium alginate solution containing calcium carbonate particles confined within a microfluidic channel. The concentration gradient is then fixed by forming a stable calcium alginate hydrogel. The process responsible for the hydrogel formation is initiated by diffusing an acidic oil solution through a permeable membrane in a 2-layer microfluidic device, thus reducing the pH and freeing calcium ions. We characterize the gradient of mechanical properties using atomic force microscopy nanoindentation measurements for a variety of material compositions and thermal conditions. Significantly, our novel approach enables the creation of steep gradients in mechanical properties (typically between 10–100 kPa/mm) on small scales, which will be of significant use in a range of tissue engineering and cell mechanosensing studies.