Light‐induced Dynamically Tunable Micropatterned Surface for the Regulation of the Endothelial Cell Alignment

The surface topography has a great effect on the behaviour of adherent cells. We report an efficient method to prepare shape memory surfaces with dynamically changed micropatterns, which can be induced by near-infrared (NIR) light by varying the power density. After polydopamine (PDA) was coated on the cross-linked polyethylene glycol-poly(ɛ-caprolactone), the surface temperature increases by 40°C at room temperature when 808 nm light with 1.0 W/cm^2 is used because of the photothermal properties of PDA. This temperature increase is enough for the shape recovery of the pressed micropatterns. The depth of the recovered micropatterns is controllable by adjusting the power density of the 808 nm light. The NIR-induced micropatterns efficiently regulate the morphology and alignment of endothelial cells. Therefore, NIR-induced shape memory surfaces have the potential to be used in remote-controlled devices.