The term " 3D pyro-printing" would express the ability of working on fluids (liquid and/or polymer) exploiting the pyro-electric effect activated onto a ferroelectric crystal in an electrode-less configuration. The no-contact self-assembling of liquids in plane (1D), using a micro-engineered crystal is described while additional degrees of freedom are added improving the dispensing capability and the transfer of material between two different planes (2D) and the controlling and fabrication of three-dimensional structures (3D). The simplicity of the method proposed, associated with the flexibility of the process for fabricating 3D polymer microstructures, demonstrates its great potentiality exploitable in many fields, from optics to biosensing . Furthermore, the manipulation of polymer in combination with the high resolution of the dispensing at nanoscale suggests innovative and potential uses for in situ and non-invasive instruments. In fact, the possibility of manipulating polymers through a nozzle-free approach would be of great interest for the fabrication of micro-structures also for photonic applications. The application of the pyro-electrohydrodynamic approach is applied for the fabrication of polymer microlens arrays, highly ordered patterns of polymer fibers and 3D micro-optical elements (wires, needles, pillars, cones, or microspheres). Micro-axicons have been realized and used for generating Bessel beams (used as optical tweezers in microfluidics). Spherical polymer beads are another class of micro-optical elements and can be used as either passive or active whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators for label-free detection of biosamples by classical evanescent field coupling; they can also be used as remotely excitable, active, microstructures if they are embedded with dye or quantum dots. In terms of micro-engineering the optical properties of this micro structures it would be possible to combine the use of a biopolymer and the 3D lithography approach to define a smart way of fabrication of biodegradable active microaxicon that as optical microelements could be inserted in lab-on-chip devices. Furthermore the microstructures produced could be used for collecting or distributing light signals in optofluidic devices as potential optical waveguides.
Unusual 3D pyro-printing approaches for fabrication of polymeric photonic microstructures
Coppola S;Vespini V;Olivieri F;Mecozzi L;Grilli S;Ferraro P
2015
Abstract
The term " 3D pyro-printing" would express the ability of working on fluids (liquid and/or polymer) exploiting the pyro-electric effect activated onto a ferroelectric crystal in an electrode-less configuration. The no-contact self-assembling of liquids in plane (1D), using a micro-engineered crystal is described while additional degrees of freedom are added improving the dispensing capability and the transfer of material between two different planes (2D) and the controlling and fabrication of three-dimensional structures (3D). The simplicity of the method proposed, associated with the flexibility of the process for fabricating 3D polymer microstructures, demonstrates its great potentiality exploitable in many fields, from optics to biosensing . Furthermore, the manipulation of polymer in combination with the high resolution of the dispensing at nanoscale suggests innovative and potential uses for in situ and non-invasive instruments. In fact, the possibility of manipulating polymers through a nozzle-free approach would be of great interest for the fabrication of micro-structures also for photonic applications. The application of the pyro-electrohydrodynamic approach is applied for the fabrication of polymer microlens arrays, highly ordered patterns of polymer fibers and 3D micro-optical elements (wires, needles, pillars, cones, or microspheres). Micro-axicons have been realized and used for generating Bessel beams (used as optical tweezers in microfluidics). Spherical polymer beads are another class of micro-optical elements and can be used as either passive or active whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators for label-free detection of biosamples by classical evanescent field coupling; they can also be used as remotely excitable, active, microstructures if they are embedded with dye or quantum dots. In terms of micro-engineering the optical properties of this micro structures it would be possible to combine the use of a biopolymer and the 3D lithography approach to define a smart way of fabrication of biodegradable active microaxicon that as optical microelements could be inserted in lab-on-chip devices. Furthermore the microstructures produced could be used for collecting or distributing light signals in optofluidic devices as potential optical waveguides.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
