Abstract
We present the fabrication and application of a magnetically actuated, macro-porous, drug–delivery hydrogel exhibiting significant reversible volume change (down to 55% of its original size) in response to a small magnetic field (23 Gauss) from a permanent magnet. When integrating the hydrogel in a microchannel, the system demonstrates a magnetically regulated flow dynamics, showing a wide range of controllable flow rate from 10 to 100 µL/s. It is fabricated via a straightforward and economical process in which macro-pores are incorporated into the hydrogel by generating micro-bubbles during its crosslinking process. The resulting hydrogel enables simultaneous control over liquid flow and drug release rate.
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Data available on request from the authors.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 42177440) and The Opening Project of Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering (South China University of Technology), Ministry of Education, KFKT2105.
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Jiang, H., Xiao, L. & Ma, Y. Flow regulation and drug delivery in bio-microfluidics using macro-porous ferrogel. Microfluid Nanofluid 26, 102 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-022-02608-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-022-02608-1