3D printing of graphene-based polymeric nanocomposites for biomedical applications

Abstract

Additive manufacturing techniques established a new paradigm in the manufacture of composite materials providing a simple solution to build complex, custom designed shapes. In the biomedical field, 3D printing enabled the production of scaffolds with patient-specific requirements, controlling product architecture and microstructure, and have been proposed to regenerate a variety of tissues such as bone, cartilage, or the nervous system. Polymers reinforced with graphene or graphene derivatives have demonstrated potential interest for applications that require electrical and mechanical properties as well as enhanced cell response, presenting increasing interest for applications in the biomedical field. The present review focuses on graphene-based polymer nanocomposites developed for additive manufacturing fabrication, provides an overview of the manufacturing techniques available to reach the different biomedical applications, and summarizes relevant results obtained with 3D printed graphene/polymer scaffolds and biosensors.

A Review of Polymer-Based Materials for Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF): Focus on Sustainability and Recycled Materials

“…The melted polymer is extruded onto a build stage to form predetermined thin layer and further solidifies and bonds together with neighbor layers to produce a part with dimensional accuracy on the order of 100 μm [ 3 , 7 ]. At the moment, polymer components manufactured by FFF method can achieve the requirements of many applications, such as toys, textiles, daily life [ 8 ], flexible microfluidic and strain sensors in electronic area [ 9 , 10 , 11 ], further to customized implants and scaffolds in biomedical area [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], automotive and aerospace [ 21 , 22 ], prototypes for functional testing, lightweight component [ 23 , 24 ] and cultural heritage restoration. Nevertheless, the growth of FFF from a prototyping technique into a manufacture apparatus is delayed by numerous questions, such as poor surface quality determined by nozzle dimensions and polymer viscoelasticity [ 25 , 26 ], low build speed [ 2 , 27 ] and limited material selection relative to those for conventional manufacturing procedures [ 28 ].…”

Enhanced thermal and mechanical properties of hydrophobic graphite-embedded polydimethylsiloxane composite

“…The fabrication of PDMS/GNP nanosheets tends to be an efficient technique which finds its application in the modern flexible electronics due to its versatility [32]. Sliva et al described the fabrication of PDMS/graphite composites using additive manufacturing to regenerate a 3D structure for a number of tissues in biomedical applications, such as bone, cartilage [33], cellulose nanofibers [34], [35]. The presence of other nanostructured materials in the PDMS-based composites such as TiO2, ZrO2 and Al2O3 can enhance heat resistance, thermal conductance, resistance to abrasion and many more [36], [37].…”

Graphene Oxide and Biomolecules for the Production of Functional 3D Graphene-Based Materials

“…Moreover, biomolecules are naturally biodegradable via the activity of a variety of enzymes produced by living organisms. Therefore, GOBBs are generally considered eco-friendly and biodegradable ( Zhao et al, 2014 ; Aidun et al, 2019 ; Geetha Bai et al, 2019 ; Silva et al, 2021 ), excluding those made with non-biodegradable biopolymers (e.g., Bio-PET, Bio-PE and similar) or other synthetic and chemically modified biomolecules ( Reddy et al, 2021 ). It is important to mention that the biodegradation of graphene and its derivatives is a currently popular topic ( Chen et al, 2017 ).…”