AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB025010541
RESEARCH ARTICLE

3D printing of aligned cellulose nanofiber hydrogels for enhanced AuNP-based SERS sensing

Tsui Yun Chung1 Yu-Ting Lin1 Priyanka Chaudhary1 Hương Minh Trần2 Wei-Fang Su1,3 Meng-Fang Lin1* Yu-Ching Huang1,4*
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1 Department of Materials Engineering and Biochemical Technology R&D Center, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan
2 Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
3 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan
4 Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Received: 29 December 2025 | Revised: 27 February 2026 | Accepted: 9 March 2026 | Published online: 23 April 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The development of flexible and 3D‐printable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates requires hydrogel architectures that support uniform nanoparticle distribution, structural robustness, and controlled filament formation. In this study, cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) and cellulose microfibers (CMFs) were incorporated into a poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate (PVA/SA) hydrogel crosslinked through borax to elucidate how fiber geometry, interfacial chemistry, and flow behavior collectively govern printability and plasmonic performance. CNFs form an interconnected and dynamically recoverable network that enhances viscosity, elastic recovery, and structural cohesion, enabling stable extrusion during 3D printing. The shear field within the printing nozzle further induces partial alignment of CNFs, generating more continuous microdomains that influence subsequent distribution of in situ grown gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Spectroscopic and rheological analyses show that AuNP incorporation modulates local hydrogen bonding while preserving the dynamic borate crosslinking essential for filament fidelity. The 3D-printed CNF hydrogels exhibit clear and distinguishable SERS responses, with detectable rhodamine 6G (R6G) signals down to 10−6 M. This work provides a mechanistic understanding of how fiber morphology, flow-induced alignment, and nanoparticle-matrix interactions jointly define SERS behavior in printable hydrogels, offering a scalable design framework for next‐generation soft-material sensing platforms.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Cellulose nanofibers
Gold nanoparticles
3D printing
Hydrogels
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering
Funding
This research was supported by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) of Taiwan under Grant No. NSTC 114-2221-E-131-012-MY3, 114-2221-E-131-038, and 112-2628-E-131-001-MY4. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Conflict of interest
This research was supported by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) of Taiwan under Grant No. NSTC 114-2221-E-131-012-MY3, 114-2221-E-131-038, and 112-2628-E-131-001-MY4. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing