Bipolar electrochemistry has attracted great interest for applications based on sensing, electrografting, and electrodeposition, because the technique enables electrochemical reactions to be induced at multiple bipolar electrodes (BPEs) with only a single power supply. However, there are only a few reports on the biofabrication of hydrogels using BPEs. In this study, we applied bipolar electrochemistry to achieve the electrodeposition of calcium-alginate hydrogels at specified target areas, which is possible because of the use of water electrolysis to obtain acidification at the anodic pole. This scheme was used to successfully fabricate an array of hydrogel deposits at a BPE array. In addition, hydrogels were successfully fabricated either at only the target BPEs or only the target areas of BPEs by repositioning the driving electrodes. Furthermore, a hydrogel was drawn on a large BPE as a canvas by using small driving electrodes. As a demonstration of the electrodeposited hydrogels for bioapplications, mammal cells were cultured in the hydrogels. Because the amount and shape of the hydrogel deposits can be controlled by using the bipolar system, the system we developed can be used for biosensors and cell culture platforms.

中文翻译：

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基于双极电化学的水凝胶电沉积†

双极性电化学技术已在基于传感，电接枝和电沉积的应用中引起了极大的兴趣，因为该技术使仅使用一个电源即可在多个双极性电极（BPE）上引发电化学反应。然而，只有很少的报道报道使用BPE进行水凝胶的生物制造。在这项研究中，我们应用双极电化学技术在特定目标区域实现了藻酸钙水凝胶的电沉积，这是可能的，因为使用水电解可以在阳极获得酸化作用。该方案用于成功地在BPE阵列上制造水凝胶沉积物阵列。另外，通过重新放置驱动电极，仅在目标BPE处或仅在BPE的目标区域成功地制造了水凝胶。此外，通过使用小的驱动电极在作为画布的大的BPE上绘制了水凝胶。为了证明电沉积水凝胶可用于生物应用，在水凝胶中培养了哺乳动物细胞。由于可以通过使用双极系统控制水凝胶沉积物的数量和形状，因此我们开发的系统可以用于生物传感器和细胞培养平台。