Microfluidics based synthesis of coiled hydrogel microfibers with flexible shape and dimension control

We examined a combined method to trigger liquid rope-coiling of viscous micro threads, and performed synthesis of coiled hydrogel microfibers with in-situ gelation. Using the proposed method, we achieved synthesis of microfiber based coiled hydrogel structures with flexible shape and dimension control. Coiling amplitude ranging from ca. 400 μm to ca. 2.6 mm were synthesized using a single device platform. In addition, complex shaped second-ordered coiled structures (i.e. supercoiled structures) were also synthesized.