3D Bioplotter Research Papers

Additive manufacturing (AM) is widely recognized as a versatile tool for achieving complex geometries and customized functionalities in designed materials. However, the challenge lies in selecting an appropriate AM method that simultaneously realizes desired microstructures and macroscopic geometrical designs in a single sample. This study presents a direct ink writing method for 3D printing intricate, high-fidelity macroscopic cellulose aerogel forms. The resulting aerogels exhibit tunable anisotropic mechanical and thermal characteristics by incorporating fibers of different length scales into the hydrogel inks. The alignment of nanofibers significantly enhances mechanical strength and thermal resistance, leading to higher thermal conductivities in the longitudinal…

Dielectric elastomer transducers (DET) are promising candidates for electrically-driven soft robotics. However, the high viscosity and low yield stress of DET formulations prohibit 3D printing, the most common manufacturing method for designer soft actuators. DET inks optimized for direct ink writing (DIW) produce elastomers with high stiffness and mechanical losses, diminishing the utility of DET actuators. To address the antagonistic nature of processing and performance constraints, principles of capillary suspensions are used to engineer DIW DET inks. By blending two immiscible polysiloxane liquids with a filler, a capillary ink suspension is obtained, in which the ink rheology can be tuned…

Aerogels were listed among the top ten emerging technologies in chemistry by IUPAC in 2022. Their record-breaking properties sparked the emergence of a thriving insulation market, but solutions are sought to promote additional applications. A 3D assembly process based on direct ink writing of “aerogel-in-aerogel” nanocomposites is presented. The printed polyimide-silica aerogels are non-brittle (E = 6.7 MPa) with a super-insulating thermal conductivity (20.3 mW m−1 K−1) and high thermal stability (T5wt% 447 °C). In addition, they display excellent low-loss dielectric properties and microwave transmission over all relevant communication bands and can be functionalized for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. The high shape-fidelity printing, combined…

Cellulose is a promising candidate for the fabrication of superinsulating materials, which would be of great interest for thermal management applications as well as for the scientific community. Until now, the production of strong cellulose-based aerogels has been dominated by traditional manufacturing processes, which have limited the possibilities to achieve the structural control and mechanical properties seen in natural materials such as wood. In this work, we show a simple but versatile method to fabricate cellulose aerogels in intricate geometries. We take advantage of the 3D printing technique direct ink writing to control both the shape and the thermal-mechanical properties…

Polarized THz time domain spectroscopy was used to study the anisotropic properties of wood-based materials for potential optical elements in the THz range, such as half-wave and quarter-wave plates. Wood samples of different species and sample thickness were studied experimentally showing high birefringence but rather high absorption. We elaborate on two approaches to optimize the optical properties for use as wave plates and assess them based on a figure of merit describing their efficiency as a function of birefringence and absorption. The first approach is to dry the wood samples, which significantly improves the efficiency of wave plates. The second…

Photoresponsive soft liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) transform light’s energy into dynamic shape changes and are considered promising candidates for production of soft robotic or muscle-like devices. 3D printing allows access to elaborated geometries as well as control of the photoactuated movements; however, this development is still in its infancy and only a limited choice of LCE is yet available. Herein, we propose to introduce biocompatible and sustainable cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) into an LCE in order to facilitate the printing process by direct ink writing (DIW) and to benefit from the anisotropic mechanical properties resulting from the extrusion-induced alignment of such…

Conventional manufacturing techniques allow the production of photoresponsive cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)-based composites that can reversibly modify their optical, mechanical, or chemical properties upon light irradiation. However, such materials are often limited to 2D films or simple shapes and do not benefit from spatial tailoring of mechanical properties resulting from CNC alignment. Herein, we propose the direct ink writing (DIW) of 3D complex structures that combine CNC reinforcement effects with photoinduced responses. After grafting azobenzene photochromes onto the CNC surfaces, up to 15 wt % of modified nanoparticles can be introduced into a polyurethane acrylate matrix. The influence of CNC on…

Emerging technologies such as smart packaging are shifting the requirements on electronic components, notably regarding service life, which counts in days instead of years. As a result, standard materials are often not adapted due to economic, environmental or manufacturing considerations. For instance, the use of metal conductive tracks in disposable electronics is a waste of valuable resources and their accumulation in landfills is an environmental concern. In this work, we report a conductive ink made of carbon particles dispersed in a solution of shellac. This natural and water-insoluble resin works as a binder, favourably replacing petroleum-derived polymers. The carbon particles…

With the development of the internet-of-things for applications such as wearables and packaging, a new class of electronics is emerging, characterized by the sheer number of forecast units and their short service-life. Projected to reach 27 billion units in 2021, connected devices are generating an exponentially increasing amount of electronic waste (e-waste). Fueled by the growing e-waste problem, the field of sustainable electronics is attracting significant interest. Today, standard energy-storage technologies such as lithium-ion or alkaline batteries still power most of smart devices. While they provide good performance, the nonrenewable and toxic materials require dedicated collection and recycling processes. Moreover,…

The flow-induced supramolecular arrangement, or band texture, present in water-soluble anisotropic films prepared from blend solutions of hydroxypropyl cellulose and organosolv lignin is locked via esterification with bio-based polycarboxylic acids. Subsequent to shear casting of the blend solutions, the chemical cross-linking with citric acid-based cross-linkers and a dimerized fatty acid yields water-insoluble, anisotropic films prone to swelling in water. The liquid crystalline networks are analyzed by means of polarized optical microscopy, tensile testing, Fourier transform infrared, and swelling experiments. Depending on the cross-linker, the dry “banded” films reach up to 3.5 GPa in tensile modulus, 80 MPa in tensile strength…

3D printing technologies allow control over the alignment of building blocks in synthetic materials, but compositional changes often require complex multimaterial printing steps. Here, 3D printable materials showing locally tunable mechanical properties are produced in a single printing step of Direct Ink Writing. These new inks consist of a polymer matrix bearing biocompatible photoreactive cinnamate derivatives and up to 30 wt% of anisotropic cellulose nanocrystals. The printed materials are mechanically versatile and can undergo further crosslinking upon illumination. When illuminating the material and controlling the irradiation doses, the Young’s moduli can be adjusted between 15 and 75 MPa. Moreover, spatially…

We report on a procedure for the preparation, printing and curing of antibacterial poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) nanocellulose-reinforced hydrogels. These composites present a highly anisotropic microstructure which allows to control and modulate the resulting mechanical properties. The incorporation of such nanoparticles enables us to modify both the strength and the humidity-dependent swelling direction of printed parts, offering a fourth-dimensional property to the resulting composite. Antibacterial properties of the hydrogels were obtained by incorporating the functionalized peptide ε-polylysine, modified with the addition of a methacrylate group to ensure UV-immobilization. We highlight the relevance of well-adapted viscoelastic properties of our material for 3D printing by…

Owing to their ultralow thermal conductivity and open pore structure, silica aerogels are widely used in thermal insulation, catalysis, physics, environmental remediation, optical devices and hypervelocity particle capture. Thermal insulation is by far the largest market for silica aerogels, which are ideal materials when space is limited. One drawback of silica aerogels is their brittleness. Fibre reinforcement and binders can be used to overcome this for large-volume applications in building and industrial insulation, but their poor machinability, combined with the difficulty of precisely casting small objects, limits the miniaturization potential of silica aerogels. Additive manufacturing provides an alternative route to…

Cellulose is an attractive material resource for the fabrication of sustainable functional products, but its processing into structures with complex architecture and high cellulose content remains challenging. Such limitation has prevented cellulose‐based synthetic materials from reaching the level of structural control and mechanical properties observed in their biological counterparts, such as wood and plant tissues. To address this issue, a simple approach is reported to manufacture complex‐shaped cellulose‐based composites, in which the shaping capabilities of 3D printing technologies are combined with a wet densification process that increases the concentration of cellulose in the final printed material. Densification is achieved by…

The alignment of anisotropic particles during ink deposition directly affects the microstructure and properties of materials manufactured by extrusion-based 3D printing. Although particle alignment in diluted suspensions is well described by analytical and numerical models, the dynamics of particle orientation in the highly concentrated inks typically used for printing via direct ink writing (DIW) remains poorly understood. Using cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as model building blocks of increasing technological relevance, we study the dynamics of particle alignment under the shear stresses applied to concentrated inks during DIW. With the help of in situ polarization rheology, we find that the time period…