Volume 36, Issue 5 e70200
RESEARCH ARTICLE

4D Printing and Shape Memory Performance of Polydopamine/Polylactic Acid Composites

Xiaole Zhao

Xiaole Zhao

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

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Tingting Lu

Tingting Lu

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

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Min Yuan

Min Yuan

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

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Fuyou Ke

Fuyou Ke

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

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Ye Chen

Corresponding Author

Ye Chen

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

Correspondence:

Ye Chen ([email protected])

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Huaping Wang

Huaping Wang

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

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First published: 10 May 2025

Funding: This work was supported by Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan Natural Science Foundation General Project, 24ZR1400200 Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, 2232024A-02.

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the thermal, mechanical, and photothermal-driven shape memory properties of 3D-printed polydopamine (PDA) and polylactic acid (PLA) blends in the context of 4D printing. Homemade PDA particles were incorporated into the PLA matrix via melt blending, and 4D printing was performed using fused deposition modeling (FDM) to fabricate PLA composite parts with superior shape memory and mechanical properties. These properties enable remote light-driven actuation, achieving up to 70% shape recovery within 300 s. Increased laser power density to three times the original, the shape recovery time was shortened from 420 s to 180 s. Furthermore, the incorporation of PDA improved the material's surface wettability. Specifically, the water contact angle of pure PLA was 83.2° at 20 s, whereas the addition of 3 wt% PDA reduced it to 51.8°. These results suggest the potential application of the composite material as a scaffold for bone tissue engineering.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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