Fabrication of Free-Standing Undulating Graphene Oxide Modular Tapered Pipes Using the Marangoni Effect

Abstract

Despite the numerous advantages of graphene oxide (GO), its use in constructing 3D architectures is limited due to its thin nature and high flexibility. Here, this work reports on a freestanding GO microstructure fabricated using the Marangoni effect and polymer microwells. Controlled Marangoni convection and evaporation are achieved by optimizing GO particle size, concentration, solution pH, viscosity, ethanol percentage, and evaporation temperature. This enables mass production of micro-sized GO modular tapered pipes (GMTPs) scalable to centimeter-sized structures via stacking. Incorporating undulating structures on the GMTP sidewalls improve structural stability and allow for deformations like bending and twisting. The GMTPs exhibit excellent biocompatibility in supporting human endothelial and smooth muscle cell growth, demonstrating potential as scaffolds for vascular tissue engineering. This Marangoni-effect-based fabrication technique advances GO-based 3D architectures and offers scalable, efficient solutions for tissue engineering and biochip applications.