3D Bioprinting of Cellulose Structures from an Ionic Liquid
Journal article, 2014

This article reports on 3D bioprinting of dissolved cellulose to produce small feature structures with a tailored design of regenerated cellulose. The process consists of dissolving cellulose with different origins and molecular weight in an ionic liq uid (1 - ethyl - 3 - methylimidazolium acetat e), controlled multilayered dispensing, and coagulation. The printability was examined by studying the viscosity of cellulose solutions and by varying the settings of the printer setup regarding flow rate and needle dimensions. Water was added as a nonsolvent, enab ling a coagulation process to form a gel structure of the printed solutions. By printing on a coagulating gel, the printed solutions were regenerated within a few seconds. Rheology analysis showed that higher concentrations of cellulose and cellulose of a high molecular weight were shear thinning, providing favorable printing properties. Printing 3D structures of cellulose dissolved in an ionic liquid followed by coagulation by a nonsolvent was possib le. Both complex patterns of 2D structures as well as multilayered prints were created to obtain 3D structures. This novel method allows for the production of spatially tailored 3D gels or membrane structures made from cellulose.

Author

Kajsa Markstedt

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Polymer Technology

Johan Sundberg

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Polymer Technology

Paul Gatenholm

Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC)

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Polymer Technology

3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing

2329-7662 (ISSN) 2329-7670 (eISSN)

Vol. 1 3 115-121

Subject Categories

Polymer Chemistry

DOI

10.1089/3dp.2014.0004

More information

Latest update

8/24/2018