3D Printing of Living Responsive Materials and Devices

Abstract

3D printing has been intensively explored to fabricate customized structures of responsive materials including hydrogels, liquid‐crystal elastomers, shape‐memory polymers, and aqueous droplets. Herein, a new method and material system capable of 3D‐printing hydrogel inks with programed bacterial cells as responsive components into large‐scale (3 cm), high‐resolution (30 μm) living materials, where the cells can communicate and process signals in a programmable manner, are reported. The design of 3D‐printed living materials is guided by quantitative models that account for the responses of programed cells in printed microstructures of hydrogels. Novel living devices are further demonstrated, enabled by 3D printing of programed cells, including logic gates, spatiotemporally responsive patterning, and wearable devices.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Dec 05, 2017
Source ID
10.1002/adma.201704821

Entities

People

  • Cesar De La Fuente‐nunez
  • Eléonore Tham
  • German Alberto Parada
  • Hyunwoo Yuk
  • Shaoting Lin
  • Timothy K. Lu
  • Tzu‐Chieh Tang
  • Xinyue Liu
  • Xuanhe Zhao

Organizations

  • Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • Samsung Group

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology