Porous materials with controlled porosities are used in a wide range of applications from reaction supports and chromatograpy to cell culture and tissue engineering.<br/>PolyHIPEs are porous polymers and can be synthesized using high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) through emulsion templating. HIPEs are usually highly viscous, paste like emulsions in which an internal phase, usually defined as constituting more than 74% of the volume, is dispersed within a continuous external phase. PolyHIPEs are produced by the polymerisation of the external phase and when the template material is removed a porous structure is revealed.<br/>PolyHIPEs are usually fabricated as monoliths where the polymerized HIPEs solidifies taking the shape of the container in which was poured. This process creates a limit on the range of shapes that can be created.<br/>In our work, we developed a method to produce macroporous multilayer materials. Therefore, we prepare High Internal Phase Emulsions (HIPEs) containing acrylate monomers such as EHA and PEGDMA, the photoinitiator Darocur 1173 and several surfactants within the continuous phase and varying the amount of a water based electrolyte as internal porogen phase. Combining a syringe dispenser connected to a 3-D printer and, subsequently, photo-polymerised upon exposure to high intensity UV light. We investigate the morphology and mechanical properties of our material.<br/>The resulting macroporous multilayer material possess the characteristic interconnected internal pore structure of polyHIPEs offering a gradient in pore size and porosity and can be printed following complicated patterns (Fig 1).

3D-printed macroporous materials

251st National Meeting (2016)

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