Huang Jiahui, Yu Zhenchuan, Wu Peiyi
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science and Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2023 Aug;10(24):e2302891. doi: 10.1002/advs.202302891. Epub 2023 Jun 25.
Shaping soft and conductive materials into sophisticated architectures through 3D printing is driving innovation in myriad applications, such as robotic counterparts that emulate the synergic functions of biological systems. Although recently developed multi-material 3D printing has enabled on-demand creation of intricate artificial counterparts from a wide range of functional viscoelastic materials. However, directly achieving complementary functionalities in one ink design remains largely unexplored, given the issues of printability and synergy among ink components. In this study, an easily accessible and self-regulating tricomponent ionogel-based ink design to address these challenges is reported. The resultant 3D printed objects, based on the same component but with varying ratios of ink formulations, exhibit distinct yet complementary properties. For example, their Young's modulus can differ by three orders of magnitude, and some structures are rigid while others are ductile and viscous. A theoretical model is also employed for predicting and controlling the printing resolution. By integrating complementary functionalities, one further demonstrates a representative bioinspired prototype of spiderweb, which mimics the sophisticated structure and multiple functions of a natural spiderweb, even working and camouflaging underwater. This ink design strategy greatly extends the material choice and can provide valuable guidance in constructing diverse artificial systems by 3D printing.
通过3D打印将柔软且导电的材料制造成复杂的结构,正在推动众多应用领域的创新,例如模仿生物系统协同功能的机器人部件。尽管最近开发的多材料3D打印能够根据需求从多种功能性粘弹性材料中创建复杂的人造部件。然而,鉴于油墨的可印刷性和油墨成分之间的协同作用问题,在一种油墨设计中直接实现互补功能在很大程度上仍未得到探索。在本研究中,报道了一种易于获取且能自我调节的基于三组分离子凝胶的油墨设计,以应对这些挑战。基于相同成分但具有不同油墨配方比例的3D打印物体展现出截然不同但又互补的特性。例如,它们的杨氏模量可以相差三个数量级,并且一些结构是刚性的,而另一些结构是韧性和粘性的。还采用了一个理论模型来预测和控制打印分辨率。通过整合互补功能,进一步展示了一个具有代表性的受生物启发的蜘蛛网原型,它模仿了天然蜘蛛网的复杂结构和多种功能,甚至在水下也能发挥作用并实现伪装。这种油墨设计策略极大地扩展了材料选择范围,并能为通过3D打印构建多样化的人工系统提供有价值的指导。