Passer au contenu
  1. Home
    2. Research Projects
  2. PRINTER – Coupling directed assembling of nanoparticles and microfluidics: towards the proof of concept of a colloidal 3D printer

Research project selected under the 2019 call for proposals

Principal Investigator : PALLEAU Etienne

Involved Teams :

  • LPCNO / Nanotech
  • LPCNO / Nanostructures et Chimie Organométallique, NCO
  • CEMES / In situ interferometry and instrumentation for electron microscopy, I3EM
  • LGC / Génie des Interfaces et Milieux Divisés, GIMD

Type of project : Collaborative Project

Date (start/end) : 2019 – 2023

Concept picture of a colloidal 3D printer where electrostatically charged substrate is placed in a microfluidic chamber to generate multiple laminar flows containing various types of colloidal nanoparticles

The PRINTER project proposes to address the development of a new Key Enabling Technology (KET) by demonstrating the proof of concept of a “3D colloidal printer”. The idea is to direct simultaneously the assembly of different nano-objects on a same substrate by coupling an electrostatic directed assembly technique with an original microfluidic chip and set up. To meet the specifications of such method and be able to assemble any type of nanoparticles in 3D, we will study in collaboration with the Nexdot company the production of micropearls, 150-300 nm nanoparticles in which smaller nanoparticles of interests are encapsulated in an Al2O3 matrix. Owing to the combination of real time optical observations, numerical simulations and transmission electron microscopy characterizations of the assembly, the 3D co-assembly kinetics of colloidal nanoparticles will be investigated both experimentally and theoretically.