Microfabrication and microstructuring of hydrogel materials

Abstract

Growing importance of hydrogels in various areas of human life has led to increasing need in controlling their properties, which is generally achieved by adjusting hydrogels shape and microstructure. Even though standard microfabrication and microstructuring techniques can be currently applied in hydrogel research, the variety of properties of hydrogel materials makes it difficult to employ any of these techniques universally. Furthermore, to produce hydrogel structures complex enough to mimic biological tissues, several structuring and microfabrication approaches on various length scales would need to be combined. The complexity and diversity of problems associated with such processes raises a whole set of multidisciplinary challenges. This doctoral dissertation explores novel approaches to structuring and fabrication of polymeric and supramolecular hydrogels by combining modern microfabrication techniques with molecular self-assembly and/or exploiting mutual incompatibility of certain hydrophilic polymers.