3D Printable Conducting and Biocompatible PEDOT‐graft‐PLA Copolymers by Direct Ink Writing

Abstract

Tailor‐made polymers are needed to fully exploit the possibilities of additive manufacturing, constructing complex, and functional devices in areas such as bioelectronics. In this paper, the synthesis of a conducting and biocompatible graft copolymer which can be 3D printed using direct melting extrusion methods is shown. For this purpose, graft copolymers composed by conducting polymer poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and a biocompatible polymer polylactide (PLA) are designed. The PEDOT‐g‐PLA copolymers are synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization between 3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene and PLA macromonomers. PEDOT‐g‐PLA copolymers with different compositions are obtained and fully characterized. The rheological characterization indicates that copolymers containing below 20 wt% of PEDOT show the right complex viscosity values suitable for direct ink writing (DIW). The 3D printing tests using the DIW methodology allows printing different parts with different shapes with high resolution (200 µm). The conductive and biocompatible printed patterns of PEDOT‐g‐PLA show excellent cell growth and maturation of neonatal cardiac myocytes cocultured with fibroblasts.

Progress in Synthesis of Conductive Polymer Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene)

“…It was found that the properties of the product could be tuned by the oligomer length, end group, and monomer composition with fine control (Spicer et al, 2017). In addition to the conductivity, the biocompatibility and non-toxicity of PEDOT are also deeply concerned by researchers (da Silva et al, 2018;Meng et al, 2019;Dominguez-Alfaro et al, 2021). In recent studies, a new type of conductive polymer-based biosensor has been obtained through monomer modification and polymerization (da Silva et al, 2018;Meng et al, 2020;Ritzau-Reid et al, 2020).…”

Green Copolymers Based on Poly(Lactic Acid)—Short Review

“…Tissue-like structures made of cardiomyocytes with fibroblast were developed in PEDOT-g-PLA and cardiomyocyte, improving the approved suitable maturation and functionality of these cells. The promising results of the presented study could assist the progress of generating artificial tissue [108].…”

Additive Manufacturing of Conducting Polymers: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Opportunities

“…Interestingly, these scaffolds not only showed excellent biocompatibility properties in contact with cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts but also the formation of tissue-like structures composed of both cell lines ( Figure 3 a). 64 An innovative orthogonal photochemistry-assisted printing (OPAP) technique, combining extrusion printing and light-triggered chemistry, has been developed by Yu and co-workers for fabricating three-dimensional tough conductive hydrogels (TCHs) based on PEDOT and tyramine-modified poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA-Ph). Ruthenium photochemistry was used to trigger two orthogonal photoreactions, a faster phenol-coupling reaction of PVA-Ph (∼27 s) and the polymerization of the conductive polymer precursors including 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) (∼150 s), leading to a porous PVA hydrogel network with shorter PEDOT chains immobilized in the pores.…”

“… (a) Biocompatible 3D scaffolds based on PEDOT- g -PLA for tissue engineering. Adapted and reprinted with permission from ref ( 64 ). Copyright 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.…”