Printing soft materials into predefined 3D constructs is challenging due to the weak mechanical strength of soft materials and the low structural stability of constructs. In the present work, the printing of robust 3D constructs with tunable mechanical properties and internal nanostructures is achieved, which has previously not been possible neither with traditional 3D printing techniques or the liquid-in-liquid printing methods. In this technique, by extruding an aqueous solution (containing surfactants and photocurable polymers) into a stabilizing lipid bath and subsequent photopolymerization, robust constructs with internal nanostructures and tunable mechanical properties were fabricated for the first time. We present the rheological, mechanical, and structural characterization of constructs before and after polymerization using shear rheometry, tensile measurements, and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). We will further explain the underlying stabilization phenomena and morphological phase transitions using experiments and dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation.

3D Printing of nanostructured constructs using <i>in situ </i>Self-assembly of surfactants at the immiscible interface

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3D Printing of nanostructured constructs using in situ Self-assembly of surfactants at the immiscible interface