Spatial‐Selective Volumetric 4D Printing and Single‐Photon Grafting of Biomolecules within Centimeter‐Scale Hydrogels via Tomographic Manufacturing

Direct 4D printing via active composite materials

We describe an approach to print composite polymers in high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) architectures that can be rapidly transformed to a new permanent configuration directly by heating. The permanent shape of a component results from the programmed time evolution of the printed shape upon heating via the design of the architecture and process parameters of a composite consisting of a gl...

Photoreversible Patterning of Biomolecules within Click-Based Hydrogels**

Biomimetic 4D printing.

Shape-morphing systems can be found in many areas, including smart textiles, autonomous robotics, biomedical devices, drug delivery and tissue engineering. The natural analogues of such systems are exemplified by nastic plant motions, where a variety of organs such as tendrils, bracts, leaves and flowers respond to environmental stimuli (such as humidity, light or touch) by varying internal tur...

Manufacturing a human heel in titanium via 3D printing.

3D printing continues to find new uses as more people get familiar with the capabilities of this relatively new manufacturing tool. Professor Peter Choong at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital proved the adage “chance favours the prepared”. His patient faced losing a foot due to a cancerous heel, so he came up with the idea of a 3D-printed alternative. He engaged medical device company Anatomics...

Optimization of 4D polymer printing within a massively parallel flow-through photochemical microreactor†

4D polymer micropatterning – where the position (x,y), height (z), and monomer composition of each feature in a brush polymer array is controlled with sub-1 micrometer precision – is achieved by combining a mobile, massively parallel flow-through photoreactor with thiol-acrylate photoinitiated brush polymerizations. Polymers are grown off the surface by introducing monomer, photoinitiator, and ...