polymers Archivi – Photopolymer

Light processable hydrogels were successfully fabricated by utilizing maize starch as raw material. To render light processability, starch was gelatinized and methacrylated by simple reaction with methacrylic anhydride. The methacrylated starch was then evaluated for its photocuring reactivity and 3D printability by digital light processing (DLP). Hydrogels with good mechanical properties and biocompatibility were obtained by direct curing from aqueous solution containing lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP) as photo-initiator. The properties of the hydrogels were tunable by simply changing the concentration of starch in water. Photo-rheology showed that the formulations with 10 or 15 wt% starch started curing immediately and reached G’ plateau after only 60 s, while it took 90 s for the 5 wt% formulation. The properties of the photocured hydrogels were further characterized by rheology, compressive tests, and swelling experiments. Increasing the starch content from 10 to 15 wt% increased the compressive stiffness from 13 to 20 kPa. This covers the stiffness of different body tissues giving promise for the use of the hydrogels in tissue engineering applications. Good cell viability with human fibroblast cells was confirmed for all three starch hydrogel formulations indicating no negative effects from the methacrylation or photo-crosslinking reaction. Finally, the light processability of methacrylated starch by digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing directly from aqueous solution was successfully demonstrated. Altogether the results are promising for future application of the hydrogels in tissue engineering and as cell carriers

11 October 2020

Light Processable Starch Hydrogels

Hermann Staudinger (23 March 1881 – 8 September 1965) was a German organic chemist who demonstrated the existence of macromolecules, which he characterized as polymers. For this work he received the 1953 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

21 February 2020

Second day at QUT

Second meeting with the PhD students at QUT, enjoying the summer weather talking about UV-light. Thanks to prof. Christopher Barner-Kowollik for hosting me in his amazing group.

newsfeed, travels

First day at Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

17 February 2020

First day at QUT campus

The meeting today with the Soft Matter group at QUT was awesome. A large group of students who showed high interest in the use of light for hydrogels synthesis or fabrication of Janus nanoparticles

newsfeed, travels

14 February 2020

Flying to Australia for my Erasmus+

I’m starting my Erasmus in Australia! It’s funny to say at the age of 50 (almost) and a long career in the university. Thanks to Politecnico di Torino, Monash University and Queensland University of Technology

newsfeed

5 November 2019

Nicolò Razza won the “Quality Award – Year 2018” in Materials Science

Nicolò Razza a former group member of Photopolymer Lab and now Postdoctoral Researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), has been awarded by the Doctoral School of our institute with the “Quality Award – Year 2018” for the excellence in research.

newsfeed

Marco Sangermano, Minna Hakkareinen and Karin Odelius

2 November 2019

At the Taishan Academic Forum

Enjoying the Taishan Academic Forum with my colleagues Minna Hakkareinen and Karin Odelius. Interesting conference, nice people and new synergies between China and Europe.

conferences

14 October 2019

Photopolymer Lab at the VII International Baekeland Symposium

Photopolymer Lab at the VII International Baekeland Symposium. Marco Sangermano will hold a speech on UV-activated frontal polymerization of epoxy composites.

conferences, newsfeed

Synthesis of high payload nanohydrogels for the ecapsulation of hydrophilic molecules via inverse miniemulsion polymerization: caffeine as a case study

9 October 2019

Polymeric nanohydrogels via UV radiation for drug delivery

Discover our latest findings on the production of polymeric nanohydrogels via UV radiation for drug delivery. Congrats to Fiora Artusio and all co-authors.

newsfeed, publications

5 September 2019

Sulfoniun salt

Let’s introduce the Sulfonium salt, a strong superacid precursor, the one from whom cationic photopolymerization starts. If you are curious, check our open-access review New Horizons in Cationic Photopolymerization (https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10020136). You will be introduced to the latest advances, from the synthesis of cationic photoinitiators to the most recent applications. #research #review #photopolymerization #polymers #materialscience #technology […]

newsfeed

Archives

Light Processable Starch Hydrogels

100 years of polymer science

Second day at QUT

First day at QUT campus

Flying to Australia for my Erasmus+

Nicolò Razza won the “Quality Award – Year 2018” in Materials Science

At the Taishan Academic Forum

Photopolymer Lab at the VII International Baekeland Symposium

Polymeric nanohydrogels via UV radiation for drug delivery

Sulfoniun salt