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, Issue 8, Pages: 2484-2494(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：15 August 2026
- 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. 2026, 44, 2484–2494

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]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(8): 2484-2494. 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. 2026, 44, 2484–2494 DOI： 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]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(8): 2484-2494. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3629-2. DOI：

摘要

Supramolecular microneedles with high mechanical robustness and high molding fidelity were rapidly fabricated under mild conditions by pressing a viscoelastic supramolecular composite slurry. Such performance originates from reversible interactions between the polymer and polyphenol

enabling rapid fabrication without elevated processing temperatures.

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 condition

s (50 °C). Viscoelastic supramolecular composite slurries can be obtained by precisely 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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⁰

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