Abstract
The design of lignin nanostructures where interfacial interactions enable enhanced entanglement of colloidal networks can broaden their applications in hydrogel-based materials and light-based 3D printing. Herein, an approach for fabricating surface-active dendritic colloidal microparticles (DCMs) characterized by fibrous structures using nanostructured allylated lignin is proposed for the development of lignin-based photocurable resins. With
allyl-terminated surface functionality of 0.61 mmol g−1, the entanglement between lignin-DCM fibrils with a size of 1.4 μm successfully produces only lignin-based hydrogels with structural integrity through photo-crosslinking. The colloidal network of lignin dendricolloids reinforces the poly(ethylene
glycol) (PEG) hydrogels during a digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing process by generating bicontinuous morphologies, resulting in six-fold
increases in toughness values with respect to the neat PEG hydrogel. The dual effectiveness of photoabsorption and free-radical reactivity of lignin-DCMs
allow the light-patterning of rather dilute PEG hydrogels (5–10%) with high geometric fidelity and structural complexity via DLP 3D printing. This study
demonstrates a green and effective strategy for the design of 1D lignin-DCMs that increases the versatility of the nanostructured biopolymer, opening up
numerous opportunities for formulating functional hydrogels with robust structure-property correlations.
allyl-terminated surface functionality of 0.61 mmol g−1, the entanglement between lignin-DCM fibrils with a size of 1.4 μm successfully produces only lignin-based hydrogels with structural integrity through photo-crosslinking. The colloidal network of lignin dendricolloids reinforces the poly(ethylene
glycol) (PEG) hydrogels during a digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing process by generating bicontinuous morphologies, resulting in six-fold
increases in toughness values with respect to the neat PEG hydrogel. The dual effectiveness of photoabsorption and free-radical reactivity of lignin-DCMs
allow the light-patterning of rather dilute PEG hydrogels (5–10%) with high geometric fidelity and structural complexity via DLP 3D printing. This study
demonstrates a green and effective strategy for the design of 1D lignin-DCMs that increases the versatility of the nanostructured biopolymer, opening up
numerous opportunities for formulating functional hydrogels with robust structure-property correlations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2315679 |
| Journal | Advanced Functional Materials |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 29 |
| Early online date | 21 Mar 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Mar 2024 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Funding
L.W., P.E., and C.X. would like to acknowledge funding from Business Finland (project 43674/31/2020). X.W. would like to thank the Academy of Finland (333158) as well as the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation for their funds for her research at ÅAU. TEM imaging was processed and analyzed in the Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, which receives financial support from Biocenter Finland. CH‐Bioforce Oy is thanked for providing lignins. The authors specially thank Rui Liu for coaching in /GC−MS. Parts of the research used Research Council of Finland Research Infrastructure “Printed Intelligence Infrastructure” (PII‐FIRI). Py
Keywords
- DLP 3D printing
- lignin nanoparticles
- lignin dendritic fibers
- nanostructured lignin
- tough hydrogels