Two-photon polymerization as a potential manufacturing tool for biomimetic engineering of complex structures found in nature

Abstract

We report on the successful use of three-dimensional (3D) printing by two-photon polymerization to engineer optimized hierarchically composed surface structures at the microand nanoscale. The hierarchical composition of the printed structures was inspired by those found on the upper wing surface of blue-winged butterflies from the genus Morpho. In this way, the nanostructures and blue coloration of the organisms was mimicked, but less iridescence was achieved for biomimetic surfaces. Like the biological surface structures, the ones printed exhibited disorders characteristics. As a result, the blue colors generated by biomimetic structures displayed angle-insensitive optical properties similar to those of the Morpho wings. In addition, the great design freedom and simple workflow of the 3D printing technique enabled the fabrication of different structures at the microscale without modifying the dimension of the substructures at the nanoscale. Thus, it was possible to set the direction in which angle-insensitive coloration appeared to an observer. The morphology of biological and biomimetic surface structures was analyzed and compared using scanning electron microscopy. The optical properties of biological and engineered specimens were determined using angle-resolved spectroscopy. Furthermore, the coloration of biomimetic surfaces and the upper wing surface of Morpho butterfly was studied in different liquids. The results were compared, and potential application for biomimetic surfaces was discussed.

Two‐Photon Polymerization Lithography for Optics and Photonics: Fundamentals, Materials, Technologies, and Applications

“…[205][206][207][208][209] Combining silicon alkoxides with monomers and other metal alkoxides makes the modification of the material properties possible for specific TPL applications, such as the silicon-zirconium hybrid SZ2080™, which is a transparent, biocompatible, and mechanically stable hybrid that can be used for complex 3D structures without shrinkage (Figure 3f). [119,[210][211][212][213][214][215][216] So far, different variants of silicon-zirconium composites have been investigated. Besides zirconium, [217,218] other materials have also been employed such aluminum, [219,220] titanium, [121,130,221,222] silver, [223] vanadium, [224] nickel, [225] zinc, [226] germanium, [227,228] ionogel, [229] and graphene.…”

Two-photon polymerization-based 4D printing and its applications

“…The manipulation of processing parameters facilitated hue control. Given that these biomimetic structures exhibited structural colors comparable to biological and bioinspired structures in distinct liquid environments [147] or demonstrated heightened selectivity in vapor response [148], this technology provides a potential application for the development of anticounterfeiting microdevices.…”

A Review on 3D Architected Pyrolytic Carbon Produced by Additive Micro/Nanomanufacturing

“…tional layer-by-layer methods commonly employed in additive manufacturing. [70,71] Micro-stereolithography, mainly through two-photon polymerization (2PP), has fostered very relevant discoveries in materials science, especially regarding the emergent field of metamaterials and metasurfaces, [78][79][80] and constitutes a very successful technology for achieving complex-shaped MEMS/NEMS with innovative features and integrated functionalities, [81,82] as well as for achieving multi-scale micro/nanodevices, by combining it with other lithographic processes or molecular patterning techniques. [83,84] As happens with SLA-based structures, 2PP or DLW objects can be pyrolyzed to achieve PyC with highly precise designcontrolled features and to reach submicrometric feature sizes of PyC, leading to nanoarchitected PyC.…”