Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-11 Aramaki-aza Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8579, Japan.
Lab Chip. 2018 Aug 7;18(16):2425-2432. doi: 10.1039/c8lc00465j.
Bipolar electrochemistry has attracted great interest for applications based on sensing, electrografting, and electrodeposition, because the technique enables electrochemical reactions to be induced at multiple bipolar electrodes (BPEs) with only a single power supply. However, there are only a few reports on the biofabrication of hydrogels using BPEs. In this study, we applied bipolar electrochemistry to achieve the electrodeposition of calcium-alginate hydrogels at specified target areas, which is possible because of the use of water electrolysis to obtain acidification at the anodic pole. This scheme was used to successfully fabricate an array of hydrogel deposits at a BPE array. In addition, hydrogels were successfully fabricated either at only the target BPEs or only the target areas of BPEs by repositioning the driving electrodes. Furthermore, a hydrogel was drawn on a large BPE as a canvas by using small driving electrodes. As a demonstration of the electrodeposited hydrogels for bioapplications, mammal cells were cultured in the hydrogels. Because the amount and shape of the hydrogel deposits can be controlled by using the bipolar system, the system we developed can be used for biosensors and cell culture platforms.
双极电化学因其在传感、电接枝和电沉积方面的应用而引起了极大的兴趣，因为该技术仅使用单个电源即可在多个双极电极（BPE）上引发电化学反应。然而，仅有少数关于使用 BPE 进行水凝胶生物制造的报道。在这项研究中，我们应用双极电化学在指定的目标区域实现钙-海藻酸钠水凝胶的电沉积，这是因为使用水电解在阳极获得酸化。该方案用于在 BPE 阵列上成功制造了一系列水凝胶沉积物。此外，通过重新定位驱动电极，可以仅在目标 BPE 或目标 BPE 区域成功制造水凝胶。此外，通过使用小的驱动电极，可以在大的 BPE 上像画布一样绘制水凝胶。作为用于生物应用的电沉积水凝胶的演示，在水凝胶中培养了哺乳动物细胞。因为可以使用双极系统控制水凝胶沉积物的数量和形状，所以我们开发的系统可用于生物传感器和细胞培养平台。
