Microfluidically manufacturing graphene-alginate microfibers create possibilities for encapsulating rat neural cells within conductive 3D tissue scaffolding to enable the creation of real-time 3D sensing arrays with high physiological relavancy. Cells are encapsulated using the biopolymer alginate, which is combined with graphene to create a cell-containing hydrogel with increased electrical conductivity. Resulting novel alginate-graphene microfibers showed a 2.5-fold increase over pure alginate microfibers, but did not show significant differences in size and porosity. Cells encapsulated within the microfibers survive for up to 8 days, and maintain ∼20% live cells over that duration. The biocompatible aqueous graphene suspension used in this investigation was obtained via liquid phase exfoliation of pristine graphite, to create a graphene-alginate pre-hydrogel solution.
Carbon-modified fibrous structures with high biocompatibility have attracted much attention as supercapacitors due to their low cost, sustainability, abundance, and excellent electrochemical performance. However, some of these carbon-based materials suffer from low specific capacitance and electrochemical performance, which have been significant challenges in developing biocompatible electronic devices. In this regard, several studies have been reported on the development of 3D carbon-based micro architectures that provided high conductivity, energy storage potential, and 3D porosity frameworks. This study reports manufacturing of microfluidic Alginate hollow microfiber modified by water-soluble modified Graphene (BSA-Graphene). These architectures successfully exhibited conductivity enhancement conductivity of about 20 times more compared to Alginate hollow microfibers, and without any significant change in the inner-dimension values of hollow region (220.0 ± 10.0 µm) in comparison with pure alginate hollow microfibers. In the presence of Graphene, more obtained specific surface permeability and active ion adsorption sites could successfully provide as shorter pathways. These obtained continuous ion transport networks resulted in improved electrochemical performance. These desired electrochemical properties of the microfibers make Alginate/Graphene hollow fibers an excellent choice for further use in the development of lightweight flexible supercapacitors with scalable potential to be used in intelligent health electronic gadgets.
The manufacturing of 3D cell scaffoldings provides advantages for modeling diseases and injuries by physiologically relevant platforms. A triple-flow microfluidic device was developed to rapidly fabricate alginate/graphene hollowalginate/graphene hollow microfibers based on the gelation of alginate induced with CaCl2. This five-channel pattern actualized continuous mild fabrication of hollow fibers under an optimized flowing rate ratio of 300: 200: 100 μL.min-1. The polymer solution was 2.5% alginate in 0.1% graphene, and a 30% polyethylene glycol solution was used as the sheath and core solutions. The morphology and physical properties of microstructures were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, electrochemical, and surface area analyzers. Subsequently, these conductive microfibers biocompatibility was studied by encapsulating mouse astrocyte cells within these scaffolds. The cells could successfully survive both the manufacturing process and prolonged encapsulation for up to 8 days. These unique 3D hollow scaffolds could significantly enhance the available surface area for nutrient transport to the cells. In addition, these conductive hollow scaffolds illustrated unique advantages such as 0.728 cm3.gr-1 porosity and twice more electrical conductivity in comparison to alginate scaffolds. The results confirm the potential of these scaffolds as a microenvironment that supports cell growth.
Carbon-modified fibrous structures with high biocompatibility have attracted much attention as supercapacitors due to their low cost, sustainability, abundance, and excellent electrochemical performance. However, some of these carbon-based materials suffer from low specific capacitance and electrochemical performance, which have been significant challenges in developing biocompatible electronic devices. In this regard, several studies have been reported on the development of 3D carbon-based micro architectures that provided high conductivity, energy storage potential, and 3D porosity frameworks. This study reports manufacturing of microfluidic Alginate hollow microfiber modified by water-soluble modified Graphene (BSA-Graphene). These architectures successfully exhibited conductivity enhancement conductivity of about 20 times more compared to Alginate hollow microfibers, and without any significant change in the inner-dimension values of hollow region (220.0 ± 10.0 µm) in comparison with pure alginate hollow microfibers. In the presence of Graphene, more obtained specific surface permeability and active ion adsorption sites could successfully provide as shorter pathways. These obtained continuous ion transport networks resulted in improved electrochemical performance. These desired electrochemical properties of the microfibers make Alginate/Graphene hollow fibers an excellent choice for further use in the development of lightweight flexible supercapacitors with scalable potential to be used in intelligent health electronic gadgets.
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