Scientists have developed a universal approach for printing materials with easy-to-modify surfaces to eliminate the need for multiple 3D printers. The versatile 3D printing technique mixes a 3D printing resin with a bromine-containing acrylate. The acrylate acts as an initiator to allow polymer brushes to grow on the printed surface. Printed 3D structures are then grafted into useful materials by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerisation.
To test their integrated initiator approach, the group fabricated lattices containing the polymer brushes and modified them to be either superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic. One superhydrophobic structure was in the form of a 2.5 cm diameter hollow mesh ball with 1 mm pores. When filled with water, the hydrophobic ball effectively held the fluid without leakage, even when shaken.
Taken from the following paper:
X Wang et al, Chem. Commun., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/c3cc45817b (rsc.li/1dYFhpS)
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