Hydrophobic surface for direct PEGDA micro-pattern fabrication

Abstract Photopolymerization of hydrogels films has gained interest in many biomedical and industrial fields. Hydrogel micro-patterns fabricated directly on a device are used as filtering barriers, however, due to weak mechanical properties, these parts require stable support but deposition hydrogel non-polymerized state brings risk sinking inside the structure. These limitations can be overcome by applying hydrophobic surface. This paper presents novel two-step method, which surface was designed manufactured using mask-projection vat photopolymerization additive manufacturing (VPP). Afterwards, PEGDA-based photopolymers were deposited micro-scale patterns cured. The subjected water immersion heating order evaluate swelling shrinking behaviour hydrogel. remained substrate maintained properties results revealed shape retention over 97%. work shows that VPP applied surfaces for photopolymer curing without sacrificing critical properties. Graphical