Additive Nanomanufacturing of Multifunctional Materials and Patterned Structures: A Novel Laser-Based Dry Printing Process

Direct printing of functional materials, structures, and devices on various platforms such as flexible to rigid substrates is of interest for applications ranging from electronics to energy and sensing to biomedical devices. Current additive manufacturing (AM) and printing processes are either limited by the available sources of functional materials or require to be in the form of precisely designed inks. Here, a novel laser-based additive nanomanufacturing (ANM) system capable of in situ and on-demand generations of nanoparticles that can serve as nanoscale building blocks for real-time sintering and dry printing a variety of multifunctional materials and patterns at atmospheric pressure and room temperature is reported. The ability to print different functional materials on various rigid and flexible platforms is shown. This nonequilibrium process involves pulsed laser ablation of targets and in situ formation of pure amorphous nanoparticles’ stream that are guided through a nozzle onto the surface of the substrate, where they are sintered/crystallized in real-time. Further, the process–structure relationship of the printed materials from nanoscale to microscale is shown. This new ANM concept opens up an opportunity for printing advanced functional materials and devices on rigid and flexible substrates that can be employed both on the earth and in space.