3D printing alias additive manufacturing can transform 3D virtual models created by computer-aided design (CAD) into physical 3D objects in a layer-by-layer manner dispensing with conventional molding or machining. Since the incipiency, significant advancements have been achieved in understanding the process of 3D printing and the relationship of component, structure, property and application of the created objects. Because hydrogels are one of the most feasible classes of ink materials for 3D printing and this field has been rapidly advancing, this Review focuses on hydrogel designs and development of advanced hydrogel-based biomaterial inks and bioinks for 3D printing. It covers 3D printing techniques including laser printing (stereolithography, two-photon polymerization), extrusion printing (3D plotting, direct ink writing), inkjet printing, 3D bioprinting, 4D printing and 4D bioprinting. It provides a comprehensive overview and discussion of the tailorability of material, mechanical, physical, chemical and biological properties of hydrogels to enable advanced hydrogel designs for 3D printing. The range of hydrogel-forming polymers covered encompasses biopolymers, synthetic polymers, polymer blends, nanocomposites, functional polymers, and cell-laden systems. The representative biomedical applications selected demonstrate how hydrogel-based 3D printing is being exploited in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, cancer research, in vitro disease modeling, high-throughput drug screening, surgical preparation, soft robotics and flexible wearable electronics. Incomparable by thermoplastics, thermosets, ceramics and metals, hydrogel-based 3D printing is playing a pivotal role in the design and creation of advanced functional (bio)systems in a customizable way. An outlook on future directions of hydrogel-based 3D printing is presented.

3D printing of hydrogels: Rational design strategies and emerging biomedical applications

Biomedical hydrogels as sole repair matrices or combined with pre-seeded cells and bioactive growth factors are extensively applied in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Hydrogels normally provide three dimensional structures for cell adhesion and proliferation or the controlled release of the loading of drugs or proteins. Various physiochemical properties of hydrogels endow them with distinct applications. In this review, we present the commonly used crosslinking method for hydrogel synthesis involving physical and chemical crosslinks and summarize their current progress and future perspectives.

Advances in crosslinking strategies of biomedical hydrogels

High-performance hydrogel electrolytes with eminent toughness, high conductivity and anti-freezing properties have extensive applications in wearable devices or implantable sensors. However, it is still difficult to integrate excellent mechanical properties and high conductivity into one hydrogel sample simultaneously. This work introduced NaCl into a poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(acrylic amide) (PVA/PAM) double network hydrogel to prepare PVA/PAM/NaCl supramolecular hydrogel electrolytes via a one-pot method. NaCl introduces physical entanglement into the PVA/PAM/NaCl hydrogel electrolytes and provides a dense and wrinkled three dimensional (3D) network nanostructure. The PVA/PAM/NaCl hydrogel electrolytes not only showed excellent mechanical properties (tensile strength up to 477 kPa, elongation at break to 1072% and a fracture energy of 2.484 MJ m−3), but also had high conductivity (up to 6.23 S m−1). A strain sensor based on the PVA/PAM/NaCl hydrogel electrolytes exhibited very high sensitivity (gauge factor = 24.901) with the ability of precise and reliable detection of human motions. Hydrogels also showed excellent anti-freezing properties and maintained excellent mechanical properties and conductivity at −20 °C. Introducing a physically cross-linking network through the effects of a metal salt could promote the performance of the hydrogels. This work provides a new insight into the design of multifunctional materials with applications on electronic skin, wearable devices and biosensors.

Highly tough supramolecular double network hydrogel electrolytes for an artificial flexible and low-temperature tolerant sensor

Biopolymer-based hydrogel electrolytes for advanced energy storage/conversion devices: properties, applications, and perspectives

Alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AAEMFC) are attracting ever-increasing attention, as they are promising electrochemical devices for energy production, presenting a viable opponent to the more researched proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Consequently, great progress has been made in the area of designing and developing synthetic or naturally-derived anion exchange membrane (AEM), the properties of which have been discussed in this review, i.e. ionic conductivity, ion exchange capacity, fuel crossover, durability, stability and cell performance. Major groups of natural polymers (e.g. chitosan (CS)) and nanocellulose, together with modification/crosslinking routes, have been mentioned as more ecologically and economically viable raw materials for AEM processing compared to synthetic ones. Performances of fuel cells are also discussed, with different fuels used as anode feeds. Although the AEMFC technology is promising, the longevity challenges remain, originating from the still-limited long-term stability of hydroxide-conducting ionomers, particularly when operating at higher cell temperatures.

/pdf/alkaline-membrane-fuel-cells-anion-exchange-membranes-and-q98f8d76y9.pdf

Alkaline membrane fuel cells: anion exchange membranes and fuels

Preparation and characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate hydrogel with high toughness and electric conductivity

Facile preparation and characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol)-NaCl-glycerol supramolecular hydrogel electrolyte

Preparation and characterization of quaternized poly(vinyl alcohol)/chitosan/MoS2 composite anion exchange membranes with high selectivity.

Preparation of high tough poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel by soaking in NaCl aqueous solution

The invention discloses a method for preparing a high-strength polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel The method comprises the following steps: taking polyvinyl alcohol as an initial raw material, and heating and dissolving in a water bath, thereby obtaining a polyvinyl alcohol aqueous solution; performing repeated low-temperature freezing-thawing on the polyvinyl alcohol aqueous solution, thereby obtaining polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel; adding the polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel into a saturated saline solution, thereby obtaining the high-strength polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel According to the invention, a hydrogen bond cross-linking structure and a microcrystalline domain are sequentially constructed by a two-step method, and then the high-strength polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel is prepared The preparation method disclosed by the invention is simple and environmental-friendly, and the prepared high-strength polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel has excellent mechanical property, non-toxicity and high biocompatibility

Method for preparing high-strength polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel

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