title: Engineering and Design of Polymeric Shells: Inwards Interweaving Polymers as Multilayer Nanofilm, Immobilization Matrix, or Chromatography Resins.
abstract: Hydrogels with complex internal structures are required for advanced drug delivery systems and tissue engineering or used as inks for 3D printing. However, hydrogels lack the tunability and diversity of polymeric shells and require complicated postsynthesis steps to alter its structure or properties. We report on the first integrated approach to assemble and design polymeric shells to take on various complex structures and functions such as multilayer nanofilms, multidensity immobilization matrix, or multiadhesive chromatography resins via the tuning of four assembly parameters: (a) poly(allylamine) (PA) concentration, (b) number of poly(allylamine)/poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PA/PSSA) incubations, (c) poly(allylamine) (PA) to poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) grafting ratio, and (d) % H2O present during assembly. Our approach combines the complex 3D structures of hydrogels with the versatility of self-assembled polymeric layers. Polymeric shells produced from our method have a highly uniform material distribution and well-defined shell boundaries. Shell thickness, density, and adhesive properties are easily tunable. By virtue of such unique material features, we demonstrate that polymeric shells can be designed to expand beyond its conventional function as thin films and serve as immobilization matrix, chromatography resins, or even reaction compartments. This technique could also uncover interesting perspectives in the development of novel multimaterials for 3D printing to synthesize scaffolds at a higher order of complexity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore , 4 Engineering Drive 3, 117583, Singapore.
authors.forename: Houwen Matthew
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4503-4581
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore , 5 Science Drive 2, 117597, Singapore.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Experimental Physics I, University of Bayreuth , 95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guigas
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V. , Hohe Strasse 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fery
authors.affiliation: Experimental Physics I, University of Bayreuth , 95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore , 5 Science Drive 2, 117597, Singapore.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patzel
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore , 4 Engineering Drive 3, 117583, Singapore.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trau
keywords: agarose; crowding; hydrogel; layer-by-layer; particle