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3D printing of highly flexible, cytocompatible nanocomposites for thermal management

  • Materials for life sciences
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Abstract

Highly flexible biocompatible materials that are both thermally conductive and electrically insulating are important for implantable and wearable bioelectronics applications. The ability to thermally process these materials into useful structures using additive manufacturing approaches opens up new opportunities for its use in bespoke structures. Here we investigate the three-dimensional (3D) printing of a medical-grade thermoplastic polyurethane (PU) elastomer, which is thermally insulating and enhance its thermal and mechanical properties through the incorporation of boron nitride (BN) as a filler. Via a simple solution compounding approach, a highly flexible and thermally conductive BN nanoparticle/ PU composite has been developed and subsequently processed into simple bio-scaffolds structures via a 3D pneumatic melt extrusion printing process. The addition of up to 20% w/w of BN to the PU significantly enhances the tensile modulus by 659%, from 1.74 to 13.2 MPa, while supporting high mechanical flexibility. The thermal conductivity of 20% w/w BN/PU composite increases by 74% with respect to the unmodified PU. The 3D printed BN/PU composite scaffolds exhibit good biocompatibility and cell attachment enhancement with L929 fibroblast cells.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the ARC Center of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF)—Materials Node, and the facilities of the University of Wollongong Electron Microscopy Center.

Funding

This study was funded by the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Materials Science (Grant No CE140100012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Innovation Campus, ARC Center of Excellence for Electromaterials Science & Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, University of Wollongong, North Wollongong, NSW, 2500, Australia

    Hadis Khakbaz, Kalani Ruberu, Lingzhi Kang, Sepehr Talebian, Stephen Beirne & Peter C. Innis

  2. Australian National Fabrication Facility Materials Node, University of Wollongong, North Wollongong, NSW, 2500, Australia

    Sepidar Sayyar, Benjamin Filippi & Peter C. Innis

  3. Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Sepehr Talebian

  4. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    Mehdi Khatamifar

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  1. Hadis Khakbaz
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  2. Kalani Ruberu
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  9. Peter C. Innis
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Correspondence to Peter C. Innis.

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Khakbaz, H., Ruberu, K., Kang, L. et al. 3D printing of highly flexible, cytocompatible nanocomposites for thermal management. J Mater Sci 56, 6385–6400 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05661-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05661-9

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