AccScience Publishing / IJB / Volume 10 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.36922/ijb.0967
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Nanoclay-reinforced alginate/salecan composite inks for 3D printing applications

Raluca Ianchis1 Maria Minodora Marin2,3* Rebeca Leu Alexa2* Ioana Catalina Gifu1 Elvira Alexandrescu1 Gratiela Gradisteanu Pircalabioru4,5,6 George Mihail Vlasceanu2 George Mihail Teodorescu1 Andrada Serafim2 Silviu Preda7 Cristina Lavinia Nistor1 Cristian Petcu1
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1 National Research & Development Institute for Chemistry and Petrochemistry, ICECHIM, Spl. Independentei No. 202, 6th District, 060021 Bucharest, Romania
2 Advanced Polymer Materials Group, Politehnica University of Bucharest, 1-7 Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
3 Collagen Department, Leather and Footwear Research Institute, 93 Ion Minulescu Street, 031215 Bucharest, Romania
4 eBio-hub Research Center, University Politehnica of Bucharest - CAMPUS, 6 Iuliu Maniu Boulevard, 061344 Bucharest, Romania
5 Research Institute of University of Bucharest (ICUB), University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
6 Academy of Romanian Scientists, Bucharest, Romania
7 Institute of Physical Chemistry “Ilie Murgulescu”n Academy, Spl. Independentei 202, 6th District, 060021 Bucharest, Romania
IJB 2024, 10(1), 0967 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.0967
Submitted: 20 May 2023 | Accepted: 27 June 2023 | Published: 27 July 2023
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The main objective of the present work was to produce three-dimensional (3D)- printable nanocomposite hydrogels based on two kinds of marine-sourced polysaccharides doped with nanoclay with potential biomedical application. First part of the research study investigated the preparation of the polysaccharide bicomponent hydrogel formulations followed by the selection of the optimal ratio of polysaccharides concentrations which ensured proper morphostructural stability of the 3D-printed constructs. Second step aimed to generate 3D scaffolds with high printing fidelity by modulating the nanoclay amount doped within the previously selected biopolymer ink. In compliance with the additive manufacturing experiments, the alginate–salecan hydrogels enriched with the highest nanofiller concentrations demonstrated the highest suitability for 3D printing process. The morphological and structural studies confirmed the ability of the nanocomposite formulations to efficiently produce porous 3D-printed constructs with improved fidelity. The morphostructural findings underlined the implication of choosing the appropriate ratio between components, as they have a considerable impact on the functionality of printing formulations and subsequent 3D-printed structures. Hence, from the obtained results, these novel hydrogel nanocomposites inks are considered valuable biomaterials with suitable features for applications in the additive manufacturing of 3D structures with precise shape for customized regenerative therapy.

Keywords
Alginate
Salecan
Hydrogel
Nanocomposites
3D printing
Funding
This research work was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS/CCCDI-UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-4216, within PNCDI III. This work was supported by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization through Program 1— Development of the national research and development system and Subprogram 1.2—Institutional performance – Projects to finance excellence in RDI, Contract no. 4PFE/2021. This work was supported by the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization (MCID) through INCDCP ICECHIM Bucharest 2023– 2026 Core Program PN. 23.06—ChemNewDeal, Project No. 23.06.01.01. The article processing charge was funded by University Politehnica of Bucharest, PubArt program.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing