Repairing and reusing plastics and delivering cancer drugs more effectively are only two of many of the potential applications a new 3D/4D printing technology might have, thanks to the pioneering work of a research collaboration between UNSW Sydney and The University of Auckland.
Repairing and reusing plastics and delivering cancer drugs more effectively are only two of many of the potential applications a new 3D/4D printing technology might have, thanks to the pioneering work of a research collaboration between UNSW Sydney and The University of Auckland.
The researchers have revealed the successful merging of 3D/4D printing and photo-controlled/living polymerisation – a chemical process to create polymers – in a paper published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition on Friday.
4D printing is a subset of 3D printing where the printed object can transform its shape in response to certain conditions.
The new controlled polymerisation method, where the researchers used visible light to create an environmentally friendly “living” plastic or polymer, opens a new world of possibilities for the manufacture of advanced solid materials.
Polymers can be synthetic, such as plastic, as well as biological, for example, DNA.
Read more at University of New South Wales
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
