Magnetically responsive microprintable soft nanocomposites with tunable nanoparticle loading

Magnetic remote actuation of soft materials is attractive for applications such as transforming materials and medical robots. However, due to manufacturing limitations, microscale magnetoactive devices are scarce and light-based additive manufacturing methods, despite achieving microscale resolution, struggle with particle-induced light scattering. Moreover, large hard-magnetic microparticles restrict ultimate feature sizes and deformation of soft-magnetic nanoparticle composites […]

Direct Laser Writing of Magnetic Micro Actuators With a Stimulus-Responsive Compliant Hinge

We present a modular design strategy for the one-step fabrication of arrays of magnetically responsive microactuators connected to the substrate via compliant hinges. We use direct laser writing in the form of two-photon crosslinking within bilayer films to generate three-dimensional microstructures in which magnetic nanoparticles are embedded in the upper layer. This part of the […]

A Gym for Cells—Direct Laser Writing of Magnetic Multilayered Micro Actuators for Mechanical Stimulation of Cells

Mechanical forces play a crucial role in many biological processes, including cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions. The generation of surface-attached multilayer micromagnet systems fabricated by two-photon lithography and the use of such systems to perform single-cell actuation are presented. The actuators are generated by two-photon crosslinking and consist of a soft and flexible surface-attached hydrogel layer […]