3D printing of metamaterials

With one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Vietnam faces challenges with unbalanced development of the regional economy and public services, pollution and lack of high value industries. New high performing metamaterials have the potential to transform telecom infrastructures and services, optical computing, solar energy and medical devices, but usage is limited by the manufacturing challenges involved.

The Newton Fund project built the first super-resolution metamaterial 3D printing system in the world, and designed and fabricated multiple shaped metamaterials characterised for multiple applications using this novel technology.

The collaboration enables 3D metamaterials to be directly printed from 3D CAD models with higher design freedom and lower cost compared to conventional photolithograpy methods. Impacts of this work can be found in the Vietnamese telecommunications and photonics industries, as well as in the energy, environment and health sectors.

The 3D printer is able to fabricate the metamaterial – an artificial electromagnetic media structured as tiny unit cells in micro/nano scale. This 3D printing platform is a practical and meaningful research tool for the fundamental nanotechnology research in
the developing countries. It can print small objects but generate huge impact.

Dr Liyang Yue

This project was shortlisted for the Newton Prize 2017