Research results from this award will extend the roll-to-roll compatible inkjet printing process into the 3rd dimension with robust deposition controls, from complete or partial filling of nanoporous substrates to deposition of highly repeatable nanoscale arrays. Drop-on-demand printing inside nanoporous substrates enables encapsulation of multi-functional therapeutic materials for drug delivery with precisely controlled release and localized delivery of growth factors for tissue regeneration. Nanotemplated printing allows for large-area deposition of nanoarrays for rapid screening of biomolecules and efficient chemical detections. By tuning ink-substrate interactions, high-throughput production of highly ordered 3D nanostructures is achieved. This project will enable new laboratory demonstrations for the Nanomanufacturing for Energy course and directly benefit highly related industry projects on printable solar cells and solid-state lighting. The community outreach programs will extend to Philadelphia inner-city K-12 students through the Philly Science Festival and Drexel's K-12 Education Program on National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges.
This award supports fundamental research on integrating inkjet printing of functional materials with nanoporous structures for high-throughput manufacturing of 3D heterogeneous nanostructures for energy, biomedical, and sensing applications. Specifically, the research will combine in-situ imaging, multi-scale modeling, and advanced characterization to examine the simultaneous wetting, infiltration, and evaporation of inkjet-printed functional inks onto nanoporous substrates and the subsequent particle self-assembly and deposition processes both inside and through nanopores. A synchronized high-speed camera, confocal microscope, and laser interferometry setup will directly observe the complex transport phenomena during the 3D nanoprinting process. A multi-scale approach, integrating a mesoscale lattice Boltzmann model at the entire drop level and a molecular dynamics model for probing interactions of nanoparticles with the contact line inside a single pore, will be developed to capture the radial-dependent infiltration process in nanopores. The project goal is to build the structure-process-property relationship for nanoporous-templated 3D nanoprinting.
