Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The requested funds will be used to purchase a high-temperature 3D printer. The printer will combine 3D printing of engineering plastics with other fabrication capabilities to integrate electronics into 3D printed objects. Whilst 3D printing is becoming increasingly industrially viable, there is an urgent need to integrate electronics and create smart 3D printed objects. For example, the integration of sensors in 3D printed customized prosthetics will enhance their capabilities and give amputees a more accurate approximation of the real limb. In particular, the requested 3D printer will contain a CO2 laser that can be used to selectively transform 3D printed material into conductive graphene. This is a very simple, fast and cost-effective process to create a nanomaterial. The graphene is ideal for sensing applications and its electrical properties can be optimized by tuning the laser parameters. We have recently demonstrated for the first time that this process can be applied to 3D printed structures. We have achieved record low resistance compared to previous results on not 3D printed material. This makes the process viable to integrate electronics into 3D printed objects. The process works on high-temperature polymers, which have the best mechanical properties and are most well suited for real-world applications. The progress of our research program is currently limited by the fact that we do not have direct access to the required equipment. No high-temperature 3D printer is available at a university in the vicinity that could be used for these studies. Currently, we rely on paying for an external 3D printer service, which means we have very limited control over the process. The requested equipment has an open architecture, which will allow us to modify all parameters for scientific studies of the process and optimize performance. The integration of the laser in the same system will allow us to perform the laser generation of the graphene without removing samples from the 3D printer. This will allow us to bury graphene within 3D printed samples without problems such as thermal warpage. The printer's 5-axis motion system will enable laser generation of graphene on any surface of 3D objects. The printer also includes characterization tools to study the properties of the 3D printed structure and the laser-induced graphene in-situ. We will perform studies to understand and optimize the graphene generation process on 3D printed polymers and how to best integrate it in 3D printed structures. Finally, we will create real application prototypes. The requested equipment includes pick and place and soldering tools to attach silicon chips. The graphene will be used for large-area sensing whilst the small silicon chips will be used for data processing and wireless communication. The combination of these different capabilities makes the requested equipment unique in Canada.