Direct Laser Writing (DLW) via two-photon polymerization (2PP) is a three-dimensional microfabrication method that has attracted considerable attention in recent years due to its ability to produce structures that are smaller than the wavelength of the writing beam. The conventional photoinitiators used in the polymerization process have poor water solubility, which limits their use to fabricate structures from aqueous solutions such as hydrogels. Additionally, these photoinitators are hydrophobic and can accumulate in cell membranes affording cytotoxicity. In our study, two water-soluble photoinitiators are synthesized and characterized. One candidate photoinitiator efficiently polymerized poly(ethylene glycol)diacrylate to enable fabrication of rectangular and lattice-based structures on the scale of 100μm using two-photon direct laser writing. Writing resolution and mechanical robustness of the written structures are assessed. Detailed characterization and analysis data will be presented along with comparisons to conventional photoinitiators.

Water-soluble photoinitiators for high efficiency two-photon polymerization

256th National Meeting (2018)

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