Antibacterial Hydrogel with Aligned Porous Structure Based on SilkFibroin/Poly(ionic liquid) Using Bidirectional Freeze Casting Technique

Methacrylated silk fibroin (SF-MA) is a chemically modified silk fibroin specifically designed to becrosslinkable through radical polymerization, which makes this material applicable in additivemanufacturing techniques and allows the prototyping and development of patient-specific ۲D or ۳Dconstructs. Overall, SF-MA was shown to be biocompatible and osteoconductive. Ionic liquids (ILs)are emerging as promising antibacterial agents in biomedical science due to their influence onphysiochemical properties and biological activities. Hydroxyapatite (HAp), known for itsbiocompatibility and similarity to bone mineral, is widely used in artificial bone applications but hasmechanical drawbacks such as stiffness and brittleness. Herein, a ۳D scaffold with directional poreswas fabricated based on silk fibroin and ionic liquid, reinforce with HA which showed goodantibacterial and biocompatible properties.