3D printing technology, which greatly simplifies the manufacturing of complex parts by a two-dimensional layer-upon-layer process, has flourished in recent years. As one of the most advanced technology, polymer powder 3D printing has many advantages such as high materials utilization rate, free of support structure, great design freedom, and large available materials, which has shown great potential and prospects in various industry applications. With the launch of the Multi jet Fusion system from HP, polymer powder 3D printing has been attracting more attention from industries and researchers. In this work, a comprehensive review of the main polymer powder-based 3D printing methods including binder jetting, selective laser sintering, high-speed sintering were carried out. Their forming mechanism, advantages and drawbacks, materials, and developments were presented, compared, and discussed respectively. In addition, this paper also gives suggestions on the process selection by comparing typical equipment parameters and features of each technology.

One common issue when implementing wearable strain sensors for health-monitoring is the limited service time when they are inevitably subjected to mechanical operation in practical applications. Therefore, integrating multi-functionality with reliable performance is a long-term pursing target. To this end, we have developed a promising strain sensor utilising a facile 3D printing technology of digital light processing (DLP), thereby simultaneously realising super-high stretchability and intrinsic self-healing ability. Owing to the incorporation of carboxyl multi-walled carbon nanotubes (c-CNTs), the over-curing of the N-acryloylmorpholine (ACMO) resin was adequately mitigated, and good electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite was obtained. On the basis of multi-functionality, the strain sensor before and after self-healing can be applied for real-time and accurate detection of human activities. Therefore, it is expected that the highly stretchable and intrinsically self-healing strain sensor will have promising applications in wearable electronics, personal health care, etc. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Improving the long-term cycling stability and energy density of all-solid-state lithium (Li)-metal batteries (ASSLMBs) at room temperature is a severe challenge because of the notorious solid–solid interfacial contact loss and sluggish ion transport. Solid electrolytes are generally studied as two-dimensional (2D) structures with planar interfaces, showing limited interfacial contact and further resulting in unstable Li/electrolyte and cathode/electrolyte interfaces. Herein, three-dimensional (3D) architecturally designed composite solid electrolytes are developed with independently controlled structural factors using 3D printing processing and post-curing treatment. Multiple-type electrolyte films with vertical-aligned micro-pillar (p-3DSE) and spiral (s-3DSE) structures are rationally designed and developed, which can be employed for both Li metal anode and cathode in terms of accelerating the Li⁺ transport within electrodes and reinforcing the interfacial adhesion. The printed p-3DSE delivers robust long-term cycle life of up to 2600 cycles and a high critical current density of 1.92 mA cm⁻². The optimized electrolyte structure could lead to ASSLMBs with a superior full-cell areal capacity of 2.75 mAh cm⁻² (LFP) and 3.92 mAh cm⁻² (NCM811). This unique design provides enhancements for both anode and cathode electrodes, thereby alleviating interfacial degradation induced by dendrite growth and contact loss. The approach in this study opens a new design strategy for advanced composite solid polymer electrolytes in ASSLMBs operating under high rates/capacities and room temperature.

The morphologies and structures of the scaffold have a significant influence on their mechanical and biological properties. In this work, different types of porous structures: Triply periodic minimal surface-Schwarz primitive (P), bodycentered cubic, and cubic pore-shaped (CPS) hydroxyapatite scaffolds with ~70% porosity were fabricated through digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing technology. The compressive properties and in vitro cell evaluations such as cell proliferation and attachment morphology of these scaffolds were systematically compared. The results showed that the CPS scaffolds exhibited the highest compressive strength (~22.5 MPa) and modulus (~400 MPa). In addition, the CPS scaffolds also performed the most active cell metabolisms as compared to other two structures, which may account for the larger pore size and smaller curvature of the substrate. This study provides a general guidance for the fabrication and selection of porous bone scaffolds processed by DLP 3D printing.

Human long bones exhibit pore size gradients with small pores in the exterior cortical bone and large pores in the interior cancellous bone. However, most current bone tissue engineering (BTE) scaffolds only have homogeneous porous structures that do not resemble the graded architectures of natural bones. Pore-size graded (PSG) scaffolds are attractive for BTE since they can provide biomimicking porous structures that may lead to enhanced bone tissue regeneration. In this study, uniform pore size scaffolds and PSG scaffolds were designed using the gyroid unit of triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS), with small pores (400 μm) in the periphery and large pores (400, 600, 800 or 1000 μm) in the center of BTE scaffolds (designated as 400-400, 400–600, 400–800, and 400–1000 scaffold, respectively). All scaffolds maintained the same porosity of 70 vol%. BTE scaffolds were subsequently fabricated through digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing with the use of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP). The results showed that DLP 3D printing could produce PSG BCP scaffolds with high fidelity. The PSG BCP scaffolds possessed improved biocompatibility and mass transport properties as compared to uniform pore size BCP scaffolds. In particular, the 400–800 PSG scaffolds promoted osteogenesis in vitro and enhanced new bone formation and vascularization in vivo while they displayed favorable compressive properties and permeability. This study has revealed the importance of structural design and optimization of BTE scaffolds for achieving balanced mechanical, mass transport and biological performance for bone regeneration.

Multi jet fusion (MJF) is an emerging powder three-dimensional (3D) printing technology with an ultrafast printing speed, in which polyamide 12 (PA12) is the main material currently utilised. Although structurally sophisticated 3D components have been printed by MJF, there are limitations due to the high cost of printing materials and inferior performance of the printed parts. Here, PA12/glass beads (PA12/GBs) composites with improved performance were manufactured via the MJF technique. Incorporating GBs effectively regulated the dimensional accuracy. Furthermore, the composite possessed lower surface roughness and higher surface hardness than neat PA12. Thermal analysis showed that the composite exhibited an enhanced decomposition temperature (390 °C) and char yield (38.4 wt.%) compared to neat PA12. Remarkably, the incorporation of GBs did not improve the flame retardance of neat PA12. We identified the improved functionalities of PA12/GBs composites in terms of dimensional accuracy, surface, and thermal properties and analysed possible mechanisms for the observed increased flammability.