Masoud Mahjouri-Samani | NanoPrintek: Can an additive manufacturing system autonomously optimize its own material printing and sintering parameters from scratch?

Why are we still spending years formulating colloidal inks when we can print directly from solid metals?

Traditional printed electronics relies on complex chemical inks containing polymers and additives that cause trace contamination, limiting performance in sensitive applications like batteries, sensors, and semiconductors. NanoPrintek bypasses this bottleneck entirely through an in-situ gas-phase synthesis approach, starting from a pure bulk solid target instead of wet chemicals.

The system uses a primary laser to ablate the solid target, generating ultra-pure, dry nanoparticles (3 to 30 nm) in real time inside a carrier gas. These pristine nanoparticles are jetted through a nozzle, while a secondary, co-axial centering laser instantly fuses them onto the substrate at the point of deposition.

This single-step, dry additive process collapses the complex ink supply chain—from powder synthesis to dispersing agents and post-deposition thermal ovens—into a unified, real-time, on-demand printing cycle. By executing synthesis, deposition, and sintering simultaneously, it delivers high-purity functional traces with zero liquid phase hazards.

In this short video, you can learn:
* How laser ablation replaces wet chemical ink formulation for printed electronics
* The dual-laser system mechanism that synthesizes and sinters nanoparticles in real-time
* How removing polymers and additives yields ultra-pure metallic traces on demand

📋 **Clip Abstract** This video details a novel dual-laser printing technology that eliminates the need for colloidal inks by generating nanoparticles directly from solid targets in real-time. By combining in-situ ablation and laser sintering, this process prints highly pure electronic traces without the chemical additives that typically degrade device performance.

How can you sinter highly conductive copper onto paper and heat-sensitive FR4 without burning the substrate?

Sintering copper typically requires high thermal budgets that easily destroy low-cost substrates like paper, polymers, or standard FR4. By shifting to dry, ultra-pure nanoparticles in the 3 to 5 nanometer range, the melting point of the metal is drastically depressed due to thermodynamic scale effects.

This thermodynamic behavior allows a localized laser to sinter the pure copper nanoparticles directly on the surface of FR4 or raw notebook paper without transferring damaging heat to the underlying substrate. This dry deposition system completely eliminates the liquid interface, preventing the swelling or degradation associated with solvent-based inks.

As a result, highly conductive metallic traces can be cleanly deposited onto highly sensitive, biodegradable, or water-soluble substrates. This capability opens up new avenues for transient electronics, green sensors, and flexible devices that must be easily dissolved or recycled after their operational lifecycle.

In this short video, you can learn:
* How nanoparticle size effects lower the sintering temperature of copper for sensitive substrates
* The thermal management strategy for printing conductive metals on FR4 and paper without damage
* The potential of dry printing for fabricating transient, biodegradable, and water-soluble electronics

📋 **Clip Abstract** This video demonstrates how thermodynamic size effects of 3-5 nm copper nanoparticles enable low-temperature laser sintering on delicate materials like FR4 and paper. By removing solvent interfaces, this dry printing method permits the direct deposition of high-conductivity circuits on biodegradable and flexible substrates.

Can dry, direct-write additive manufacturing eliminate the chemistry, cost, and supply-chain bottlenecks of functional nanomaterial inks?

Traditional printed electronics rely heavily on liquid-phase nanoparticle inks, which require complex chemical synthesis, stabilization, and post-processing. This conventional formulation route often introduces immense development costs and long lead times, only for the resulting inks to frequently fail during deposition or sintering phases. By bypassing liquid chemistry entirely, device designers can eliminate the traditional supply chain and transition from raw material to printed functional pattern in a single step.

A dry, gas-phase printing approach utilizes solid sputtering targets to generate high-purity nanoparticles on the fly, drastically reducing material waste and consumables cost. Using a single solid target allows for continuous, long-term printing operations with minimal material consumption, offering a highly sustainable alternative to expensive, low-loading liquid inks. This direct-write method removes the need for organic binders or solvents, ensuring high-purity metallic deposits without the risk of nozzle clogging or chemical contamination.

This dry additive platform offers unprecedented material flexibility across the periodic table, enabling the deposition of transition metals, noble metals, and semiconductors. By co-depositing from multiple elemental sources, the system can synthesize custom alloys, gradient composites, and hybrid structures in real time during the printing process. This on-the-fly synthesis allows researchers and manufacturers to rapidly prototype complex material systems without waiting for custom ink formulations.

In this short video, you can learn:
* How dry, maskless printing bypasses the cost and instability of liquid-phase nanoparticle inks.
* The material efficiency of printing directly from solid targets compared to formulated wet inks.
* How to synthesize custom alloys, composites, and hybrid structures on the fly during deposition.

📋 **Clip Abstract** The speaker contrasts the high cost and failure rate of custom liquid platinum inks with their dry printing method, which utilizes a single solid target for long-term, cost-effective deposition. He also demonstrates the material versatility of this gas-phase process, explaining how it enables the on-the-fly printing of various metals, alloys, and composite structures directly from the periodic table.

🎤 Speaker: Masoud Mahjouri-Samani
🏢 Company: NanoPrintek
📅 Event: Additive, Sustainable or 3D Electronics Innovations Day 2025
📍 Location: TechBlick Online Platform

🌐 Learn more at the next TechBlick event: https://www.techblick.com