Apr 15, 2016 | By Benedict

A team of researchers at the University of Miami has developed a 4D printing system using a massively parallel flow-through photochemical microreactor. The extra “dimension” comes from the 3D printer’s ability to precisely control the monomer composition of each feature in a brush polymer array.

When it comes to 3D printing, pinpoint accuracy is paramount. Researchers, businesses, and individuals continually seek to achieve the highest possible 3D printing resolutions in order to create 3D printed objects of the highest possible quality. However, even the best nozzles and materials have their limitations—that is, until the 3D printing process of which they are a part goes “4D”.

4D polymer micropatterning, “where the position (x,y), height (z), and monomer composition of each feature in a brush polymer array is controlled with sub-1 micrometer precision,” has been achieved by a group of researchers from the University of Miami, who believe that their new system could be eventually be used in gene chip and protein array research.

The University of Miami research team, led by Adam Braunschweig, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and former Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at New York University, designed a 4D printing system which uses 1cm2 parallel tip arrays, microfluidics and photochemical polymerizations to grow brush polymers on a glass surface. The printing process is incredibly fast and achieves sub-micrometer resolution without the use of high-energy beams. The Braunschweig Group, part of the UM Department of Chemistry, is currently engaged in a number of supramolecular polymer research projects.

The polymerization reaction central to the 4D printing process consists of three components: monomer, photo-initiator, and solvent. This triplet of ingredients flows into a microfluidic cell, which is fitted with a tip array containing 15,000 polydimethylsiloxane pyramids spaced at 80μm intervals. These pyramids localize light which is shone onto them.

According to the researchers’ abstract, the 4D micropolymer pattering is achieved “by combining a mobile, massively parallel flow-through photoreactor with thiol-acrylate photoinitiated brush polymerizations.” These polymers are then “grown off the surface by introducing monomer, photoinitiator, and solvent into the microfluidic reaction chamber, and using light reflected onto the back of elastomeric massively-parallel tip arrays to localize reactions on the surface.”

Braunschweig believes that the 4D printing system developed by he and his team could have numerous future applications, such as gene chips, protein arrays, and stimuli-responsive surfaces. The ultimate goal, however, has always been to recreate the architectural complexity and chemical properties of biological interfaces such as the cell surface over large areas. “We’re still a long way off, but that is the motivation for our work,” Brainschweig explained.

The research paper, titled “Optimization of 4D polymer printing within a massively parallel flow-through photochemical microreactor,” was published in Polymer Chemistry on April 1. The other contributors to the study were Xiaoming Liu, Yeting Zheng, Samuel R. Peurifoy, and Ezan A. Kotharia. The study has been discussed in Chemistry World.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

 

 

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