Recent Development and Applications of Advanced Materials via Direct Ink Writing

Abstract

the hydrogel. Although extensive efforts have been devoted to this endeavor, most studies are still in the fundamental laboratory scale. Only a few real applications in the areas of energy storage (lithium ion batteries [LIBs], supercapacitor) and energy conversion (fuel cell) have been reported. [6][7][8] As a result, the development of new technology to fabricate advanced materials may provide a breakthrough in the limitations of traditional fabrication techniques for nanomaterial-based device preparation.Additive manufacturing (AM), including 3D printing, is the best solution to overcome the barrier associated with traditional fabrication methodology, because it is template free and does not require a lithographic mask compared to traditional methods. [2a-c] Besides, 3D printing technology is also popular in real life, including food making [9] and building house. [10] Seven types of 3D printing technologies were developed in past decades, including 1) powder bed fusion, 2) binder jet, 3) directed energy deposition, 4) material jetting, 5) sheet lamination, 6) vat polymerization (e.g., stereolithography (SLA)), and 7) material extrusion (e.g., fused deposition modeling (FDM), direct ink writing (DIW)). [11] Owing to the involvement of 2D structures, [11a] high cost, [11b,c] and limited materials selection [11c] for powder bed fusion, binder jet, directed energy deposition, material jetting, and sheet lamination technologies, their popularity was not as high as that of SLA, FDM, and DIW in both scientific research and commercial products development. Thus, this review focuses Direct ink writing (DIW), a type of extrusion-based 3D printing method, enables the rapid design and building of size-and shape-scalable 3D structures in a low-cost and green manner without the need for specific size reactors and secondary substrates compared to traditional synthesis methods. Coupling the use of sol-gel inks with optimized rheological properties (elastoviscosity and shear stress) and a wide range of nanomaterials enhances the mechanical and electrical conductivity of printed products. In this review, the recent development in DIW methods, critical requirements for printable DIW inks, and applications of DIW-printed products in medical, energy storage, and environmental treatment are reviewed. A perspective outlook associated with limitations from current DIW research is proposed for the breakthrough development of such technology in the future.

Direct Ink Writing 3D Printing of Graphene/Al2O3 Composite Ceramics with Gradient Mechanics

“…The open porosity ( P , %) and bulk density (ρ, g cm −3 ) of composite ceramic were measured by Archimedes drainage method [ 23 ] where D L (g cm −3 ) is the density of the water in the test process, M 1 (g) and M 2 (g) are the weight of composite ceramic before and after in water, respectively. M 3 is the weight of the composite ceramic filled with water.…”

“…The open porosity (P, %) and bulk density (ρ, g cm À3 ) of composite ceramic were measured by Archimedes drainage method [23]…”

Recent Progress and Perspectives of Direct Ink Writing Applications for Mass Transfer Enhancement in Gas‐Phase Adsorption and Catalysis

“…Studies have demonstrated that when Oh is between 0.1 and 1, smooth DIW processes can be achieved. [131,135] When Oh exceeds 1, the printing process may be affected by excessive viscous resistance, resulting in the blockage of extrusion nozzles. When Oh is less than 0.1, the inks cannot sustain sufficient viscoelasticity to form filaments, and they break apart upon contact with the substrate, forming satellite droplets.…”

All-Printed 3D Solid-State Rechargeable Zinc-Air Microbatteries

“…On the other hand, the three-dimensional (3D) direct printing technique has recently been developed for fabricating various kinds of microdevices, − which provides the comprehensive advances of direct pattern writing, fast device prototyping, and a simplified fabrication process. − By taking advantage of both the digital programming and automated manufacturing, the 3D direct printing technique is capable of obtaining rationally designed device structures with accurately controlled spatial geometries from the microscale even down to the nanoscale. − However, up to now little work has been done to fabricate the zinc-air microbatteries by using the 3D direct printing technique, which is mainly ascribed to the challenges in both the preparation of the active electrode inks with complicated composition of the nano/micromaterial catalysts and conducting/binding agents in solvent and the formation of the solid electrode/liquid electrolyte/gas air three-phase interfacing structure in the porous air electrode. − Zhang et al successfully fabricated the air and zinc electrode sheets by using the 3D direct printing technique and assembled the solid-state zinc-air battery by sandwiching a poly­(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based gel electrolyte in middle . In the work, the conventional sandwich-type device configuration was adopted, which cannot be used for making microenergy devices.…”