ON THE DESIGN OF STRUCTURED SCAFFOLDS USING CONDUCTING POLYMERS BY DIRECT INTERFERENCE LASER PATTERNING

L. MULKO; S. BONGIOVANNI ABEL; M. SOLDERA; F. BOUCHARD; D. ACEVEDO; A. LASAGNI

La Plata

Congreso; XXII CONGRESO ARGENTINO DE FISICOQUÍMICA Y QUÍMICA INORGÁNICA (XXII CAFQI); 2021

Objectives and Introduction: This work aims to design and develop a composite filmconsisting of a nanocoated conductive polymer polyaniline (PANI) bonded to the flexiblebioinert polymer polypropylene (PP) acting as a support polymer and structured by directlaser interference patterning (DLIP).[1] The ultimate goal is to use this material as aneural scaffold for biomedical applications, taking advantage of the conductiveproperties [2]Results: The highly ordered pattern of the PANI@PP will be achieved by Hot-Embossing(HE) metallic template previously structured by DLIP (See Figure 1a) and consisting ofsymmetrical valley/groove lines of controlled periodicity and depth in an order of cellularmagnitude (pattern periodicity c.a. 2 μm, pattern depth 1 μm) as shown in Figure 1b.The patterning by HE-DLIP will allow the generation of a surface with anisotropicconductivity the difference in directional resistivity is intended to improve the growthand extended the distribution of the neural cells under electrical stimulation.Additional characterisations are being carried out to analyse this distinct behaviour.Conclusions: The combination of DLIP-HE techniques allows the generation ofsubstrates with periodic structures in polymer composites under mild conditions thathave great potential for use as biomedical scaffolds (e.g. neuronal differentiation)References[1] Fu, M., et al. Sci. Rep., 2020. 10 (1), 1-11.[2] Saberi, A., et al. Biomolecules 2019, 9(9), 448.