Institute of Biomaterials, Department of Material Science and Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Cauerstr. 6, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
Institute of Biomaterials, Department of Material Science and Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Cauerstr. 6, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
Acta Biomater. 2020 Jan 1;101:1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2019.08.044. Epub 2019 Aug 30.
Electrically conductive biomaterials are gaining increasing interest owing to their potential to be used in smart, biosensoric and functional tissue-engineered scaffolds and implants. In combination with 3D printing technology, this class of materials might be one of the most advanced approaches towards future medical implants regarding potential functionalities and design possibilities. Conductive hydrogels themselves have been researched for potential sensoric and tissue engineering applications for more than a decade, while the 3D printing of such functional materials is still under early exploration. This review aims to provide a short insight into the most recent developments of 3D printable and electrically conductive hydrogels. It also provides a summary of the last few years of research in this field, with key scope on 3D printing for biomedical applications. The final literature search was conducted in May 2019, with the specific keywords '3D', 'printing', 'conductive', 'hydrogel', 'biocompatible' and combinations of the latter, using advanced search in the databases Scopus®, Web of Science® (Web of Knowledge®) and Google Scholar®. A total of 491 results were gained, while 19 recent publications were identified with the above-mentioned criteria and keywords, which are the studies finally discussed in the paper. The key results have been summarised, and the remaining challenges in the field and the scope for future research activities have been discussed. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Hydrogels are among the most frequently used biomaterials in tissue engineering (TE). A new class of hydrogels, namely, electrically conductive hydrogels (ECHs), has been introduced in recent years. Although ECHs have been comprehensively reviewed in the literature, the combination of ECHs with 3D printing technology has emerged only recently, representing a promising key development toward the fabrication of functional 3D TE constructs. In this review, we cover for the first time the state of the art in the field of 3D printing of ECHs. Previous advances are presented, reviewing the 3D printing technologies utilised, spatial resolution and electrical conductivity values achieved, in addition to discussing the obtained mechanical properties and emerging applications of these materials.
导电生物材料由于其在智能、生物传感和功能组织工程支架和植入物中的潜在应用而受到越来越多的关注。结合 3D 打印技术，这类材料可能是未来医学植入物中最先进的方法之一，具有潜在的功能和设计可能性。导电水凝胶本身已经研究了十多年，用于潜在的传感和组织工程应用，而这种功能性材料的 3D 打印仍处于早期探索阶段。本文旨在简要介绍 3D 可打印和导电水凝胶的最新进展。它还总结了该领域过去几年的研究，重点是生物医学应用的 3D 打印。最终的文献检索于 2019 年 5 月进行，使用 Scopus®、Web of Science®（Web of Knowledge®）和 Google Scholar®数据库中的高级搜索，使用特定关键字“3D”、“打印”、“导电”、“水凝胶”、“生物相容性”和它们的组合。共获得了 491 个结果，而根据上述标准和关键字确定了 19 个最近的出版物，这些出版物最终在本文中进行了讨论。总结了关键结果，并讨论了该领域的剩余挑战和未来研究活动的范围。意义声明：水凝胶是组织工程（TE）中最常用的生物材料之一。近年来，引入了一类新的水凝胶，即导电水凝胶（ECH）。尽管 ECH 在文献中已经得到了全面的综述，但 ECH 与 3D 打印技术的结合最近才出现，代表了朝着制造功能 3D TE 构建体的有前途的关键发展。在本综述中，我们首次涵盖了 ECH 3D 打印领域的最新技术。介绍了以前的进展，回顾了所使用的 3D 打印技术、实现的空间分辨率和电导率值，此外还讨论了这些材料获得的机械性能和新兴应用。
