New Nanoscale 3D Printing Techniques Developed

Above: SEM images and the corresponding full EDX mapping results of the zodiacs patterned on pre-shrunk hydrogels. (Note that the mappings of all the rare earth elements are merged into one image (RE) due to their low ratios in the NPs; and the abundant oxygen at the background of TiO2 and Fe3O4 patterns, and the Na at the background of NaYREF4 can be partially attributed to the hydrogel substrate); Scale bars are 1 μm. Below: Fabrication of large-scale woodpile structures: (A) 12-layer woodpile structure of florescent polystyrene (top view, stitched from 16 sub-images due to the limited microscope field of view); (B) zoomed-in view of (A), where the inset shows a 3D fluorescent image of the structural details in the selected area; (C) cuboid woodpile structure of florescent protein; (D) O-shaped 3D woodpile structure of CdSe. Courtesy of Chinese University of Hong Kong

A team at The Chinese University, Hong Kong (CUHK), working with Carnegie Mellon University, has developed a new approach to 3D printing, allowing ultra-fine (Nano) products to be produced with improved resolution, rate of production, and lower manufacturing costs in a variety of materials.

According to a press release by CUHK, a multi-disciplined research team headed by Professor Chen Shih-Chi of CUHK in conjunction with Professor Zhao Yongxin from Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has developed a 3D nanofabrication platform that, for the first time realizes multi-material fabrication, meaning it can use a great variety of materials, including metals, alloys, semiconductors, polymers, ceramics and biomaterials at a record-setting resolution of 20 nanometers, and a light patterning speed of 300 cubic millimeter/hour, three orders of magnitude faster than conventional serial fabrication systems that are currently used in the commercial world. The achievement has recently been published in the journal Science.