3D micro-concrete hybrid structures fabricated by femtosecond laser two-photon polymerization for biomedical and photonic applications

Abstract

How to fabricate micro-scale 3D structures with an efficient method is the key issue to achieve many long-pursuit exciting goals, such as direct 3D printing to make human organs and fabrication of integrated photonic circuits. Two-photon polymerization (2PP) is more competitive than other 3D printing methods because it is the unique approach capable to acquire around 100 nm resolution to fabricate tiny structures, which are fundamental components in these applications. However, the photoresist used in this method lacks the key material properties to fulfill the requirements of such applications, including mechanical strength and light trapping efficiency. In this work, we present two hybrid methods to modify the photoresist into micro-concretes. With such modifications, the key material properties are enhanced, which transfers it into the feasible building blocks to achieve unique functionalities. These improved hybrid micro-concretes offer tunable mechanical strength, light trapping efficiency and flexible design for bio-medical devices and micro-photonic sources, which represent a new paradigm to nano-engineer the mechanical and optical properties for various applications.