| ETH-Zurich researchers have developed an economic, fast and reproducible method for printing micro- and nanoscale (<100 data-blogger-escaped-a="" data-blogger-escaped-an="" data-blogger-escaped-b="" data-blogger-escaped-in="" data-blogger-escaped-ink-jet="" data-blogger-escaped-manner="" data-blogger-escaped-methods.="" data-blogger-escaped-nm="" data-blogger-escaped-printer="" data-blogger-escaped-printing="" data-blogger-escaped-similar="" data-blogger-escaped-structures="" data-blogger-escaped-to=""> |
Using this printing method, ultrafine particles are transferred onto a surface from a capillary in a targeted fashion with the aid of an electrical field. Depending on how long material accumulates at the same spot, the structure grows taller, producing a nano-tower.
When the researchers automatize the nano-printer using special software, it can produce the little towers autonomously, uniformly and without any connecting lines whatsoever.
The printing takes place with nano-particles of a wide variety of materials that are placed in solvents to form inks. During printing, the nano-particles self assemble next to each other according to the related physics, which was explained by the researchers. The solvent evaporates and the nano-structures, which can be markedly smaller than 100 nanometres, are ready.
Manipulating light with nano-structures as antennas The ETH-Zurich researchers envisage a wide range of possible applications for their new method. It paves the way for applications in optics, they explain. After all, light interacts differently with nano-structures than with larger objects. Surfaces that have been modified with nano-structures “manipulate the light”, as doctoral student Patrick Galliker explains.
These surfaces can absorb, concentrate and transmit light instead of reflecting it. Acting as mini-antennae and absorbers, the minuscule structures thus soak up and amplify the light, which falls into a kind of trap before ideally being transmitted to where it is needed.
This could be used to increase the efficiency of thin-film solar cells by capturing the light and channelling it directly towards the active layer, for instance. Until now, such solar cells did not use all the incident light as they reflected part of it and let another part to escape unused. Camouflage suits with such surfaces are conceivable, explains Dimos Poulikakos, professor of thermodynamics and head of the research group.
Moreover, using such nanostructures, new kinds of faster, more selective and highly sensitive detectors and sensors might be feasible. The nanostructures could also be used in special light microscopes in which light nanoantennas trigger fluorescence, Poulikakos adds, enabling the tiniest of objects, such as individual molecules, to be observed. And, of course, the nano-printer could be employed wherever material needs to be applied on a nanoscale in a targeted fashion, such as in the production of modern microprocessors.
With the new printing method, the tiny structures can be applied to different surfaces in a quick and reproducible manner. It is fast because the printer can be programmed in such a way that material is applied precisely where it is needed. The removal of excess material, as is necessary with other methods on a micro- and nanoscale structuring, is no longer required, saving precious resources.
Also, compared to established methods that perform similar functions at the nanoscale, the new technique is considerably less expensive. It does not need large-scale facilities, high calssification clean rooms, exceedingly high temperatures or special pressure ratios. It works perfectly without laborious and time-consuming vacuum steps needed in many other processes.
As a result, the throughput and size of the printed surfaces may be increased considerably during industrial production, says Poulikakos. Additionally, prototyping at the smallest scale could be performed fast and affordably. All this will make the method considerably more attractive than the alternatives already available.
According to the researchers, the prospects for the new method are promising. A patent application has already been filed and the first interested parties from industry have already shown interest. Even the founding of a 3D printing spin-off is in the pipeline. Currently, the ETH-Zurich researchers are also involved in several projects with other scientists who need facile nanostructures, otherwise producible with much more complex, expensive and time consuming methods.
SOURCE EHT Zurich
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It's amazing how technology has advanced so much these days. I'm still finding it a little hard to believe they can now print a 3d model on such a tiny scale.
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