Controlled Desiccation of Preprinted Hydrogel Scaffolds Toward Complex 3D Microarchitectures

Additive manufacturing (AM) is the key to creating a wide variety of 3D structures with unique and programmable functionalities. Direct ink writing is one of the widely used AM technologies with numerous printable materials. However, the extrude-based method is limited by low fabrication resolution, which is confined to printing macrostructures. Herein, a new AM strategy is reported, using a low-cost extrusion 3D printer, to create 3D microarchitectures at the macroscopic level through controlled desiccation of preprinted hydrogel scaffolds followed by infilling objective components. A printable hydrogel with a high-water content ensures maximum shrinkage (approximate to 99.5% in volume) of the printed scaffolds to achieve high resolution. Stable covalent cross-linking and a suitable drying rate enable uniform shrinkage of the scaffolds to retain their original architectures. Particularly, this method can be adapted to produce liquid-metal-based 3D circuits and nanocomposite-based microrobots, indicating its capability to fabricate functional and complex 3D architectures with micron-level resolution from different material systems.