Abstract
Heterotypic functional materials with compositional and topographical properties that vary spatiotemporally on the micro-or nanoscale are common in nature. However, fabricating such complex materials in the laboratory remains challenging. Here we describe a method to continuously create microfibres with tunable morphological, structural and chemical features using a microfluidic system consisting of a digital, programmable flow control that mimics the silk-spinning process of spiders. With this method we fabricated hydrogel microfibres coded with varying chemical composition and topography along the fibre, including gas micro-bubbles as well as nanoporous spindle-knots and joints that enabled directional water collection. We also explored the potential use of the coded microfibres for tissue engineering applications by creating multifunctional microfibres with a spatially controlled co-culture of encapsulated cells.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 877-883 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Nature Materials |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2011 Nov |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry(all)
- Materials Science(all)
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering