- Recently, physicists from the Crystallography and Speech Science Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences have developed a new 3D printing method that uses special nanoparticles to achieve results that were previously impossible, in the fields of bioprinting and electronics It has huge laser pointer high resolution potential.
Many 3D printing technologies, even higher-end advanced laser-based systems (known as two-photon lithography), suffer from common problems with relatively slow operating speeds and poor resolution when high levels of When it comes to solutions, similar technologies may have more complex workflows and less flexibility in design, but they can often be performed at a higher level and faster. 3D printing technology creates a layer by layer structure. The arduous process of layer by layer is mainly due to this slow operation and insufficient resolution.
The breakthrough for Russian researchers was to create a new type of particle for printing materials. The particle is connected to other particles in a more complex and more dimensional manner, overcoming many of the limitations brought by standard two-photon lithography 3D printing technology. Two-photon lithography 3D printing technology involves selectively curing a resin can with a high-intensity laser to form a specific structure, and monomers in the resin are photopolymerized by the laser. The research team’s new nanoparticles are made of sodium, th, thorium, and fluorine, which are so-called up-conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which consist of two photons. When exposed to light, they emit more ultraviolet light. This energy can be used to aggregate surrounding particles.
Placing these UCNPs in the cured material means that three-dimensional voxels can be created. Targeting a point in the resin material distributes energy across the thickness of the 3D environment, creating the desired structure more quickly. The extra energy release means that the same results can be obtained with a much lower power near-infrared laser pointer than the more expensive and precise femtosecond lasers previously used.
The results of this research are detailed in a paper entitled “High-resolution 3D Photopolymerization Assisted Upconversion Nanoparticles for Rapid Prototyping Applications” and have been published in the journal “Science Report”.