100th Anniversary of Macromolecular Science Viewpoint: Macromolecular Materials for Additive Manufacturing.

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) has drawn tremendous attention as a versatile platform for the on-demand fabrication of objects with excellent spatial control of chemical compositions and complex architectures. The development of materials that are specifically designed for AM is highly desirable for a variety of applications ranging from personal healthcare, tissue engineering, biomedical devices, self-folding origami structures, and soft robotics. Polymeric macromolecules have received increasing attention due to a wide variety of materials, the versatility for novel chemistries, and the ability to tune chemical composition and architecture. This Viewpoint highlights the development of polymeric materials for direct-ink writing and vat photopolymerization for 3D printing applications. Recent chemical innovations and polymer architectures are overviewed, which also includes recent developments in responsive and adaptive objects from AM. Polymers for biological interface and sustainability in AM are also discussed.