To stabilize the Earth’s climate, large-scale transition is needed to non-carbon-emitting renewable energy technologies like wind and solar energy. Although these renewable energy sources are now lower-cost than fossil fuels, their inherent intermittency makes them unable to supply a constant load without storage. To address these challenges, rechargeable electric batteries are currently the most promising option; however, their high capital costs limit current deployment velocities. To both reduce the cost as well as improve performance, 3D printing technology has emerged as a promising solution. This literature review provides state-of-the-art enhancements of battery properties with 3D printing, including efficiency, mechanical stability, energy and power density, customizability and sizing, production process efficiency, material conservation, and environmental sustainability as well as the progress in solid-state batteries. The principles, advantages, limitations, and recent advancements associated with the most common types of 3D printing are reviewed focusing on their contributions to the battery field. 3D printing battery components as well as full batteries offer design flexibility, geometric freedom, and material flexibility, reduce pack weight, minimize material waste, increase the range of applications, and have the potential to reduce costs. As 3D printing technologies become more accessible, the prospect of cost-effective production for customized batteries is extremely promising.

This study demonstrates SLA 3D printing of Li-ion battery anodes using recycled solar cell waste, achieving 400 mA h g ⁻¹ capacity with 89% retention after 200 cycles. This sustainable approach surpasses graphite anodes and supports circular economy.

To stabilize the Earth’s climate a large-scale transition is needed to non-carbon emitting renewable energy technologies like wind and solar energy. Although these renewable energy sources are now lower-cost than fossil fuels, their inherent intermittency make them unable to supply a constant load without storage. To address these challenges rechargeable electric batteries are currently the most promising option; however, their high capital costs limit current deployment velocities. To both reduce the cost as well as improve performance 3D printing technology has emerged as a promising solution. This literature review provides the state-of-the-art enhancements of battery properties with 3D printing including efficiency, mechanical stability, energy and power density, customizability and sizing, production process efficiency, material conservation and environmental sustainability as well as the progress in solid-state batteries. The principles, advantages, limitations, and recent advancements associated with the most common types of 3D printing are reviewed focusing on their contributions to the battery field. 3D printing batteries offer design flexibility, material flexibility, reduces pack weight, minimizes material waste, increases the range of applications and has the potential to reduce costs. As 3D printing technologies become more accessible, the prospect of cost-effective production for customized batteries is extremely promising.

Ball milling is used for comminution by rotating a drum to grind materials using balls with specific diameters. Ball milling advantages include the potential for high capacity, predicted fineness in a specific amount of time, reliability, safety, and simplicity, but has disadvantages of high weight, energy consumption and costs, which limit accessibility. To overcome these limitations this study applies the free and open source hardware approach coupled to distributed digital manufacturing to fabricate a ball mill with a simple, customizable design that can be used in a wide range of scientific applications and circumstances including those without access to reliable grid electricity. The highly-customizable design reduces the cost to <US$130 for an AC powered version and <US$315 for a switchable power that enables off-grid operation with a solar module and battery. Using a solar photovoltaic energy source not only improves the power reliability, but also makes it easier to move the ball mill for use in field environments. The open source ball mill is capable of reducing silicon particle sizes from the millimeter scale down to the nanometer scale.

Recent work demonstrated that 50:50 sand-recycled polycarbonate (rPC) composites have an average compressive strength of 71 MPa, which dramatically exceeds the average offered by commercial concrete (23.3–30.2 MPa). Due to the promising technical viability of replacing carbon-intensive concrete with recycled sand plastic composites, this study analyzes the cradle-to-gate environmental impacts with a life cycle assessment (LCA). Sand-to-plastic composites (50:50) in different sample sizes were fabricated and the electricity consumption monitored. Cumulative energy demand and IPCC global warming potential 100a were evaluated to quantify energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission associated with sand–plastic brick and two types of concrete, spanning the life cycle from raw material extraction to use phase. The results showed that at small sizes using Ontario grid electricity, the composites were more carbon-intensive than concrete, but as samples increased to standard brick–scale rPC composite bricks, they demonstrated significantly lower environmental impact, emitting 96% less CO₂/cm³ than sand–virgin PC (vPC) composite, 45% less than ordinary concrete, and 54% less than frost-resistant concrete. Energy sourcing has a significant influence on emissions. Sand–rPC composite achieves a 67–98% lower carbon footprint compared to sand–vPC composite and a 3–98% reduction compared to both types of concrete. Recycling global polycarbonate production for use in sand–rPC composites, though small compared to the total market, could annually displace approximately 26 Mt of concrete, saving 4.5–5.4 Mt of CO₂ emissions. The results showed that the twin problems of carbon emissions from concrete and poor plastic recycling could be partially solved with sand–rPC building material composites to replace concrete.

Although there has been considerable progress in distributed manufacturing of open-source designs for mobility aids, there is a notable lack of affordable, open-source crutches. Crutches are a vital tool for many individuals with mobility impairments, yet the high costs limit accessibility. Even more, they are in short supply in regions undergoing conflict. The goal of this study is to address this need by leveraging the principles of free and open-source hardware and the capabilities of digital distributed manufacturing to create a low-cost, functional crutch that can be easily produced and customized locally using inexpensive desktop 3D printers. All the design files are open-source, and the design process incorporated load-bearing tests using a hydraulic actuator under static loading conditions to meet the ISO 11334-1:2007 standard for walking aids. The open-source forearm crutch developed in this study not only surpasses the requirements of the ISO method for load capacity (1,516.3 ± 169.9 N, which is 51.6% percent above needs), weighs a fraction of comparable commercial systems (0.612 kg or 27% of proprietary devices), and is customizable, but also offers a highly cost-effective solution; costing CAD $36 in material, which is less than all equivalent crutches on the open market. If recycled plastic is used, the material cost of the crutch could be further reduced to under CAD $13, making it much more accessible.