Proceedings of MATSUS Fall 2023 Conference (MATSUSFall23)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2023.299
Publication date: 18th July 2023
From extracellular matrices (ECM) in connective tissues, to silks spun by spiders, and textile fibers weaved in fabrics, small diameter fibers widely exist in nature and have been closely associated with our daily life. These individual fibers have quasi-one-dimensional flexible structures, with diameters smaller than ~100 µm, and length to width aspect ratios greater than ~100. Orderly assembling fibers into arrays and three-dimensional architectures with designable chemical properties and sensing capabilities could open a range of bioelectronics and biointerface applications. In this presentation, I will demonstrate biofabrication and fiber printing techniques that enable the patterning of functional fiber architectures in three dimensions. These fiber printing techniques extend the materials libraries and device designs, which underpin technological capabilities from enabling fundamental studies in cell migration, to customizable and eco-friendly fabrication of wearable sensors. Finally, I will provide an outlook on the strategic pathways for developing next-generation bioelectronics using fibers as architectural building blocks.
This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC-StG, 758865).