title: Two-photon polymerization for fabricating structures containing the biopolymer chitosan.
abstract: Two-photon polymerization is a powerful tool for fabricating three-dimensional micro/nano structures for applications ranging from nanophotonics to biology. To tailor such structure for specific purposes it is often important to dope them. In this paper we report on the fabrication of structures, with nanometric surface features (resolution of approximately 700 nm), using two-photon polymerization of an acrylic resin doped with the biocompatible polymer chitosan using a guest-host scheme. The fluorescence background in the Raman spectrum indicates the presence of chitosan throughout the structure. Mechanical characterization reveals that chitosan does not affect the mechanical properties of the host acrylic resin and, consequently, the structures exhibit excellent integrity. The approach presented in this work can be used in the fabrication of micro- and nanostructures containing biopolymers for biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 369, 13560-970 São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tayalia
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cosendey
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Aroca
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mazur
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Mendonca
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D015394:Molecular Structure; D017785:Photons; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001704:Biopolymers; D048271:Chitosan