Mori Tomohiro, Wang Hao, Zhang Wang, Ser Chern Chia, Arora Deepshikha, Pan Cheng-Feng, Li Hao, Niu Jiabin, Rahman M A, Mori Takeshi, Koishi Hideyuki, Yang Joel K W
Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore, 487372, Singapore.
Industrial Technology Center of Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, 6496261, Japan.
Nat Commun. 2023 Sep 21;14(1):5876. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41535-9.
Two-photon polymerization lithography is promising for producing three-dimensional structures with user-defined micro- and nanoscale features. Additionally, shrinkage by thermolysis can readily shorten the lattice constant of three-dimensional photonic crystals and enhance their resolution and mechanical properties; however, this technique suffers from non-uniform shrinkage owing to substrate pinning during heating. Here, we develop a simple method using poly(vinyl alcohol)-assisted uniform shrinking of three-dimensional printed structures. Microscopic three-dimensional printed objects are picked and placed onto a receiving substrate, followed by heating to induce shrinkage. We show the successful uniform heat-shrinking of three-dimensional prints with various shapes and sizes, without sacrificial support structures, and observe that the surface properties of the receiving substrate are important factors for uniform shrinking. Moreover, we print a three-dimensional mascot model that is then uniformly shrunk, producing vivid colors from colorless woodpile photonic crystals. The proposed method has significant potential for application in mechanics, optics, and photonics.
双光子聚合光刻技术在制造具有用户定义的微米和纳米级特征的三维结构方面很有前景。此外，热解收缩可以很容易地缩短三维光子晶体的晶格常数，并提高其分辨率和机械性能；然而，由于加热过程中基板固定，该技术存在收缩不均匀的问题。在这里，我们开发了一种简单的方法，利用聚乙烯醇辅助三维打印结构的均匀收缩。将微观三维打印物体拾取并放置在接收基板上，然后加热以诱导收缩。我们展示了各种形状和尺寸的三维打印件在没有牺牲支撑结构的情况下成功实现均匀热收缩，并观察到接收基板的表面性质是均匀收缩的重要因素。此外，我们打印了一个三维吉祥物模型，然后将其均匀收缩，从无色木堆光子晶体中产生鲜艳的颜色。所提出的方法在力学、光学和光子学领域具有重要的应用潜力。
