3D printing of superhydrophobic and multifunctional objects via simple and inexpensive vat photopolymerization†

Abstract

3D printing has emerged as a revolutionary technology in the manufacturing industry, enabling the creation of complex and intricate structures with precision and accuracy. Among various 3D printing technologies, vat photopolymerization has several advantages including high precision, fast molding, and ambient temperature printing. In this work, we employed an inexpensive vat photopolymerization 3D printer (nearly an order of magnitude lower in cost compared to prior reports), with an ink that consists of only two commercially-available components (photopolymer resin and PVDF particles), and a process that consists of only two steps (photopolymerization and washing) to fabricate superhydrophobic 3D objects with complex shapes and geometries. Our intention here is to convey that fabrication of superhydrophobic objects via vat photopolymerization 3D printing is very forgiving and does not require expensive instrumentation or custom-made multi-component inks (>2 components) or multi-step processing (>2 steps). Furthermore, by modifying the inks with magnetic particles or photochromic/thermochromic dyes, we fabricated multifunctional 3D printed objects with superhydrophobicity as well as magnetic or color morphing properties. We envision that our simple and inexpensive 3D printing technique will democratize the fabrication of superhydrophobic and multi-functional objects by enabling access to a wide range of end-users, especially in cost-constrained or skill-constrained environments.