Three-Dimensional Nanoprinting via Direct Delivery.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Additive Manufacturing

Background:

• Direct writing methods are established for macroscopic 3D printing but face challenges in miniaturization to nanoscale and creating hierarchical structures.
• Existing techniques struggle with achieving high spatial precision and integrating diverse materials at micro/nanoscale dimensions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the challenges of nanoscale 3D printing by developing a high-precision direct writing method.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of creating complex, multi-dimensional hierarchical nanostructures with nanometer accuracy and practical throughput.

Main Methods:

• Integration of atomic force microscopy (AFM) for spatial precision with microfluidics for local material delivery.
• Utilized specialized AFM probes as both imaging tips and material delivery tools for direct nanoprinting.
• Employed a layer-by-layer printing approach to build 3D structures.

Main Results:

• Successfully printed stacking grids with 20 μm periodicity over 1 mm × 1 mm areas.
• Achieved spatial fidelity measured at the several nanometer level, representing state-of-the-art precision in 3D printing.
• Demonstrated practical throughput and overall size capabilities for the nanoprinting process.

Conclusions:

• The combined AFM and microfluidics approach enables high-precision 3D nanoprinting with nanometer feature sizes and accuracy.
• This technique overcomes limitations of conventional direct writing methods for nanoscale applications.
• The work lays the foundation for fabricating advanced 3D hierarchical nanostructures for diverse applications.