Fluidic Microprocessors for Material Assembly

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We propose microfluidic approaches that aim at creating, characterizing and utilizing organized materials. Soft materials with a spatially non-uniform composition that is closely linked to their function are common in nature and often possess a hierarchical architecture with length scales ranging from hundreds of nanometers to several millimetres. Currently available means for creating planar soft materials with an organized microstructure mimic nature's ability in two ways: by initially preparing building blocks and subsequently assembling them along fluid interfaces, and by planar microfabrication. These strategies necessitate a sequence of processing steps and often lack spatiotemporal control. We propose the one-step preparation of planar and three-dimensional hydrogels with a spatiotemporally varying composition that is enabled by a scaled-out microfluidic device. The obtained mosaic hydrogels will allow for the local storage or the time-release of a colloidal or macromolecular payload within the same gel matrix. Tessellations of different gels will lead to mosaic stiffness and diffusivity patterns. Our strategy offers the formation of planar soft materials with precise spatiotemporal control over the material composition. We envision our approach to ultimately enable the in-flow production of soft materials and devices for a variety of applications including cell (co-)culture and regenerative medicine.