3D Bioprinting of Natural Materials and Their AI-Enhanced Printability: A Review

A wide array of biomaterials including proteins, polysaccharides, and other polymers are used to fabricate green 3D printing inks suitable for use in the fields of biotechnology, water treatment, food and agriculture, energy, and bioplastics. Although green materials are sustainable and have many favorable properties, each material has its own limitations. The main focus of this paper is to review the currently available 3D printing biomaterials that can be obtained from natural sources and investigate the artificial intelligence (AI) assisted approaches that can be used to enhance their printability and accelerate their development. Results reveal that above 20 natural materials can be used in 3D printing inks, and their properties vary widely making their development slow and case-dependent. To speed up this process, this study highlights the significance of AI-assisted enhancement techniques and proves that AI can be used in three main aspects of biomaterial development for 3D bioprinting; material property prediction, smart material selection, and printing parameter optimization. It discusses the AI-based systems that have the potential to accelerate the development of 3D printing biomaterials and concludes that these methods are indeed promising but should be further tested, verified, and compared before they are incorporated into the industry. The importance of this study lies in integrating advanced AI systems with sustainable natural materials to leverage their inherent properties and utilize them in various applications for a greener future.