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3-D print colloidal crystals

Posted on June 20, 2019 Updated on June 19, 2019

According to Mechanosynthesis Group, MIT, “Highlights from our publication on direct-write colloidal assembly, a new fabrication process combining principles of self-assembly with 3D printing.3-D print colloidal crystals.”
According to study co-author Alvin Tan, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, “If you blew up each particle to the size of a soccer ball, it would be like stacking a whole lot of soccer balls to make something as tall as a skyscraper. That’s what we’re doing at the nanoscale.
If you could 3-D print a circuit that manipulates photons instead of electrons, that could pave the way for future applications in light-based computing, that manipulate light instead of electricity so that devices can be faster and more energy efficient.
According to graduate student Justin Beroz, assistant professor of mechanical engineering Mathias Kolle, and an associate professor of mechanical engineering A. John Hart. For the first time, we’ve shown that it’s possible to build macroscale self-assembled colloidal materials, and we expect this technique can build any 3-D shape, and be applied to an incredible variety of materials. Mr.Hart, the senior author of the paper.”

http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-researchers-3-d-print-colloidal-crystals-0830