Fabrication of Conductive Hydrogel Optical Fibers using microfluidic method
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Hydrogel optical fibers have emerged as a promising and multifunctional platform that combines the advantages of both hydrogel and optical fiber. In this study a triple channel microfluidic device was used to fabricate highly elastic and stretchable soft hydrogel optical fibers based on mechanically robust double network structure of covalently and ionically crosslinked alginate and acrylamide. Triple channel microfluidic device enables to form clad and core structure in hydrogel fiber, resulting an improved light transmission. We optimized the light transmission by tuning the refractive index of clad and core, furthermore it was by immersed in aqueous LiCl to make it conductive. The resulting fibers possess excellent mechanical flexibility and can be easily tailored into various shapes, making them ideal for applications in wearable electronics and sensor technologies as well as can be used as minimally invasive tools for localized light delivery in phototherapy or optogenetics.