Session: 04-15-01: Nanoengineered, Nano Modified, Hierarchical, Multi-Scale Materials and Structures

Paper Number: 144569

144569 - High-Throughput Synthesis of Nanomaterials via Combinatorial Additive Manufacturing 

The development and refinement of innovative nanomaterials are essential for the advancement of technologies in fields like renewable energy and environmental protection. The process of identifying and enhancing nanomaterials, however, has been traditionally slow and inefficient. Existing methods for combinatorial synthesis are capable of generating extensive libraries of materials, including chemical molecules and semiconductor materials, yet they are restricted by a narrow range of material options and fail to fully utilize the recent progress in colloidal nanomaterial synthesis. In our research, we unveil an aerosol-based combinatorial printing (CP) technique that facilitates the production of materials with gradient compositional variations for materials optimization. This technique allows for the on-the-fly adjustment of mixing ratios among a wide array of material choices. By altering the chemical composition of the inks and the dynamics of their deposition, we demonstrate a broad spectrum of printing techniques and high-throughput applications, including combinatorial doping, functional grading, and combinatorial reactions. As a proof of concept of using CP, we explore the effects of doping levels on thermoelectric materials, efficiently determining the optimum doping level that leads to the synthesis of an n-type material with a superior power factor at room temperature. This method, blending the adaptability of additive manufacturing with precise control over the composition of precursor materials, presents a promising platform for expediting the synthesis and evaluation of a wide range of nanomaterial systems.

 

References: Zeng, Minxiang, et al. "High-throughput printing of combinatorial materials from aerosols." Nature 617.7960 (2023): 292-298.

Presenting Author: Minxiang Zeng Texas Tech University

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Minxiang (Glenn) Zeng is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University, where he is developing colloidal nanoinks and advanced manufacturing techniques for next-generation energy, environmental, and sensing devices. Before joining Texas Tech, he was a research scientist at the University of Notre Dame in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2018, where he studied solution-based manufacturing with an emphasis on fundamental colloidal physics including entropy-driven assembly and surface engineering. His lab focuses on understanding the fundamental characteristics of emerging materials and investigating advanced methodologies for the manufacturing of multifunctional materials and devices with controlled micro-architectures and encoded properties.

Authors:

Minxiang Zeng Texas Tech University
Yanliang Zhang University of Notre Dame