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Updated: Oct 9, 2025

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
3D Printing of Solvent-Free Supramolecular Polymers
Harald Rupp1, Wolfgang H Binder1
1Division of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences II (Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
Abstract:
Additive manufacturing has significantly changed polymer science and technology by engineering complex material shapes and compositions. With the advent of dynamic properties in polymeric materials as a fundamental principle to achieve, e.g., self-healing properties, the use of supramolecular chemistry as a tool for molecular ordering has become important. By adjusting molecular nanoscopic (supramolecular) bonds in polymers, rheological properties, immanent for 3D printing, can be adjusted, resulting in shape persistence and improved printing. We here review recent progress in the 3D printing of supramolecular polymers, with a focus on fused deposition modelling (FDM) to overcome some of its limitations still being present up to date and open perspectives for their application.

