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High-throughput printing of combinatorial materials from aerosols
Minxiang Zeng1,2, Yipu Du1, Qiang Jiang1
1Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
Nature
|May 10, 2023
Summary
A new high-throughput printing method accelerates materials discovery for clean energy and sustainability. This aerosol-phase printing enables rapid, on-demand fabrication of novel materials with precise compositional control.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Chemical Engineering
Background:
- Materials discovery for next-generation technologies like clean energy is slow and resource-intensive.
- Traditional methods like Edisonian trial-and-error and combinatorial deposition have limitations in speed, material scope, and leveraging nanomaterial synthesis breakthroughs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a high-throughput combinatorial printing method for accelerated materials discovery and optimization.
- To enable the fabrication of materials with microscale compositional gradients and explore new material compositions.
Main Methods:
- A novel high-throughput combinatorial printing technique utilizing in situ aerosol-phase mixing and printing.
- Instantaneous tuning of material mixing ratios on-the-fly during the printing process.
- Demonstration of combinatorial doping, functional grading, and chemical reaction strategies.
Main Results:
- Successful fabrication of materials with compositional gradients at microscale spatial resolution.
- Exploration of doped chalcogenides and compositionally graded materials with gradient properties.
- Demonstrated versatility in high-throughput printing strategies for diverse applications.
Conclusions:
- The developed printing method combines top-down design freedom with bottom-up compositional control.
- This approach facilitates the development of compositionally complex materials previously inaccessible through conventional manufacturing.
- Accelerates the discovery and optimization of materials crucial for clean energy and environmental sustainability.
