Supramolecular Polymer-Polyphenol Composite Slurries for High-fidelity Microneedle Fabrication <italic style="font-style: italic">via</italic> Ambient-temperature Pressing

Qiang Chen; Yi-Yan Cheng; Yu-Pei Sun; Sen-Bin Chen; Lian-Bin Zhang; Jin-Tao Zhu

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3629-2

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Supramolecular Polymer-Polyphenol Composite Slurries for High-fidelity Microneedle Fabrication via Ambient-temperature Pressing

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-07-02

- Supramolecular Polymer-Polyphenol Composite Slurries for High-fidelity Microneedle Fabrication via Ambient-temperature Pressing
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Pages: 1-11(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan 430074, China
- Author bio：
  
  zhanglianbin@hust.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3629-2
  CLC：
- Received：21 March 2026，
  
  Accepted：14 April 2026，
  
  Online First：01 July 2026，
  
  Published：2026-06
- Accepted：
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Chen, Q.; Cheng, Y. Y.; Sun, Y. P.; Chen, S. B.; Zhang, L. B.; Zhu, J. T. Supramolecular polymer-polyphenol composite slurries for high-fidelity microneedle fabrication via ambient-temperature pressing. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3629-2

Qiang Chen, Yi-Yan Cheng, Yu-Pei Sun, et al. Supramolecular Polymer-Polyphenol Composite Slurries for High-fidelity Microneedle Fabrication via Ambient-temperature Pressing[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-11. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3629-2.
Chen, Q.; Cheng, Y. Y.; Sun, Y. P.; Chen, S. B.; Zhang, L. B.; Zhu, J. T. Supramolecular polymer-polyphenol composite slurries for high-fidelity microneedle fabrication via ambient-temperature pressing. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3629-2 DOI：

Qiang Chen, Yi-Yan Cheng, Yu-Pei Sun, et al. Supramolecular Polymer-Polyphenol Composite Slurries for High-fidelity Microneedle Fabrication via Ambient-temperature Pressing[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-11. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3629-2. DOI：

摘要

Abstract

Polymer microneedles (MNs) have emerged as promising next-generation transdermal drug delivery platforms owing to their noninvasive nature and high delivery efficiency. Conventional fabrication strategies for polymer MNs mainly rely on mold-assisted vacuum casting or hot pressing. However

these approaches often fail to simultaneously achieve rapid fabrication and mild processing conditions

which are particularly critical for the fabrication of temperature-sensitive drug-loaded MNs. Herein

we report a vacuum-assisted pressing strategy for MN fabrication based on

-carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCA) and natural polyphenol protocatechuic acid (PCA) supramolecular composite slurries. This method enables MN production under significantly reduced processing times (

12 h) and mild thermal conditions (50 °C). Viscoelastic supramolecular composite slurries can be obtained by pr

ecisely tuning the polymer-to-polyphenol ratio

which is highly compatible with vacuum-assisted pressing in MNs molding. The resulting polymer-polyphenol supramolecular composites exhibit robust mechanical properties

with a fracture stress of 0.5 MPa and a toughness of 1.31 MJ·m

–3

. Notably

supramolecular MNs demonstrated a high fracture force of up to 1.08 N per needle

indicating sufficient mechanical integrity for transdermal insertion. This fabrication strategy offers a viable route for low-cost

scalable

and mild MN fabrication

highlighting its strong potential for practical and commercial applications.

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Supramolecular Polymer-Polyphenol Composite Slurries for High-fidelity Microneedle Fabrication via Ambient-temperature Pressing

DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3629-2

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references