Review of Fiber-Based Three-Dimensional Printing for Applications Ranging from Nanoscale Nanoparticle Alignment to Macroscale Patterning

Abstract

The field of additive manufacturing (AM) has witnessed spectacular growth in the past 4 decades because of its revolutionary processing mechanism in combining bottom-up and top-down approaches. Many have speculated that it will challenge traditional fabrication methods as the fourth industrial revolution. Among the subfields of threedimensional (3D) printing, extrusion-based direct ink writing (DIW) is known for its vast material choices, high design flexibility, and acceptable cost efficiency to print many urgently demanded material systems, such as hydrogels or aerogels, nanoparticle suspensions, composite mixtures, liquid crystals, and liquid metals. Furthermore, the DIW's ability to construct complex architectures or hierarchies also contributes to broader applications across different fields, including intelligent robotics, energy generation and storage devices, biomedical implants, and sustainability systems. This review provides a comprehensive summary of recent advances in DIW development, focusing on engineered patterns at different scales, namely, nanoparticle alignment, one-dimensional (1D) fiber microstructure manipulation, and macroscale two-dimensional (2D)/3D spatial patterning. It highlights the hierarchies from nanoscale particle orientations to macroscale long-range-ordered structures. Finally, technical barriers and significant challenges prohibiting DIW for broader applications or impeding fundamental research to industrial commercialization are discussed.

Direct ink writing of a graphene/CNT/silicone composite strain sensor with a near-zero temperature coefficient of resistance

“…The direct ink writing (DIW) technique, as a rapidly developing and scalable additive manufacturing technology by extruding a functional slurry via a nozzle, plays a critical role in various fields, such as electronics, sensors, microfluidics, and medical devices, which possesses potential characteristics including a short manufacturing cycle and rapid prototyping. 21,22 For example, to address the trade-off between fabrication methods and sensing performance, Tang et al have developed a printable CNT-based polymer ink for fabricating high-performance pressure sensors using a more convenient, rapid, and lower-cost method. 23 Later, for lightweight and wearability requirements, a coaxial composite yarn was printed by a facile and scalable coaxial printing strategy.…”

Review on Development and Application of 3D-Printing Technology in Textile and Fashion Design

“…Textiles have been widely used as a perfect media in various applications such as thermal management, wearable electronics and energy storage, because of their unique physical properties (e.g., softness, stretchability, scalability) [17][18][19]. Fiber is the most basic component for textile materials and has many excellent features, including high flexibility, excellent mechanical properties and large surface-area-to-volume ratios [20]. Some researchers have prepared functional fibers through the addition of conductive electric materials via 3DP technology [21][22][23].…”

Multi-material 3D printing-enabled multilayers for smart actuationviamagnetic and thermal stimuli

“…4 On the other hand, smart materials or systems, such as shape memory polymers (SMPs), exhibit multimodal shape manipulation with exposure to external stimuli (e.g., pH, stress, light, thermal, electric, or magnetic field). 5,6 With proper manipulation of the external fields and appropriate materials (i.e., SMPs containing nanoparticles for advanced hybrids or composites), SMPs can function efficiently with reversible shape transformation or precise motions. 7 Even though many external stimuli can control shape memory effects, not all are favorable for providing both hovering and translational motions essential for an active robot.…”