Continuous Fabrication of Temperature-Responsive Hydrogel Fibers with Bilayer Structure by Microfluidic Spinning

Temperature-responsive hydrogel fibers with bilayer structure were prepared by a microfluidic spinning device with a Y-shaped connector. The bilayer hydrogel fibers include two layer with different chemical composition. One layer is the ionic crosslinking hydrogel of calcium alginate (CA) and the other layer is temperature-responsive hydrogel which is semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (semi-IPN) of linear poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and CA. The bilayer hydrogel fibers were evaluated by morphology observation, tensile stress measurement, temperature-responsive actuation test and equilibrium swelling ratio test. The results show that the prepared hydrogel fibers have obvious double layer structure with different porous structures. The bilayer hydrogel fibers can bend in water at 50 °C and the bending rate is influenced by the diameter of the fiber. Moreover, the diameter of the hydrogel fibers can be controlled by changing the flow rates of spinning fluids.