Protocol for in situ 3D printing of liquid metal-hydrogel hybrid for multifunctional soft bioelectronics and devices

Caicai Jiao; Qian Wang; Liangtao Li; Wuliang Chen; Shuting Liang; Lingnan Song; Liang Hu

doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2024.103465

Protocol for in situ 3D printing of liquid metal-hydrogel hybrid for multifunctional soft bioelectronics and devices

STAR Protoc. 2024 Nov 22;5(4):103465. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2024.103465. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Caicai Jiao¹, Qian Wang², Liangtao Li², Wuliang Chen², Shuting Liang³, Lingnan Song⁴, Liang Hu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China; Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics, Flexible Electronics Innovation Institute, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang 330013, China.
² Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
³ College Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing Key Laboratory for Resource Utilization of Heavy Metal Wastewater Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing 402160, China.
⁴ School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China. Electronic address: lingnan_song@buaa.edu.cn.
⁵ Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China. Electronic address: cnhuliang@buaa.edu.cn.

PMID: 39579353
DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2024.103465

Abstract

3D printing methods allow for the fabrication of liquid metal (LM) wires, but additional encapsulation steps are required to obtain LM-based bioelectronics. Here, we present a protocol for in situ 3D printing of LM-hydrogel hybrids. We describe the steps to prepare gelatin-sodium alginate-potassium chloride (GSP) precursor solution. We then detail procedures for printing gallium (Ga) ink into GSP supporting matrix to form the LM-hydrogel hybrids. This protocol is adaptable to various room temperature LMs and allows printing of diverse LM structures. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Jiao et al.¹.

Keywords: Chemistry; Material sciences; Tissue Engineering.