Tuneable Hydrogel Porosity via Dynamic Tailoring of Spinodal Decomposition

Abstract

Pores within hydrogel structures play a crucial role in fostering cell growth and tissue development. The creation and control of pore size and interconnectivity can be conveniently achieved with aqueous two-phase emulsions. The decomposition of these emulsions into two separate phases can be controlled by carefully choosing the polymer components and solution conditions. Spinodal decomposition, a mechanism of phase separation, can result in a highly interconnected pore morphology, though controlling this process is difficult in practice, limiting its application for in vitro models. Here, a straightforward method is introduced for dynamically halting the phase separation of a gelatin methac..