3D-Printing Enables Fabrication of Swirl Nozzles for Fast Aerosolization of Water-Based Drugs

Portable inhalers are used for delivering drugs to the lungin the form of aerosols and form the standard treatment for diseases such as Asthma, COPD, and cystic fibrosis. However, for aqueous drugformulations, spray nozzle chips have so far been restricted to cleanroommanufacture due to their small feature sizes. Here we present a spring-actuated 3D-printed swirl nozzle that sprays an aqueous drug solution,matching propellant-containing inhalers in aerosolization time. The useof two-photon polymerization enables the small nozzle feature size of 100μm and device print times of only 4 min, making serial mass-fabrication a viable option. Our 35 bar spring-operated swirl nozzle prototype achieves mean volumetric particle sizes of 12.5μm on doses of 100μl, aerosolized in 270 ms, as fast as a propellant-driven inhaler. [2021-0002].