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Commercial Applications of High-Energy Physics
Part III – Applications of Additive Manufacturing at Nanoscale
Additive manufacturing for Rechargeable Batteries
Nanomaterials offer greatly improved ionic transport and electronic conductivity compared with conventional battery and supercapacitor materials. They also enable the occupation of all intercalation sites available in the particle volume, leading to high specific capacities and fast ion diffusion. These features make nanomaterial-based electrodes able to tolerate high currents, offering a promising solution for high-energy and high-power energy storage. After decades of development, a library of nanomaterials with versatile chemical compositions and shapes exists, ranging from oxides, chalcogenides, and carbides to carbon and elements forming alloys with lithium. This library includes various particle morphologies, such as zero-dimensional (0D) nanoparticles and quantum dots; 1D nanowires, nanotubes, and nanobelts; 2D nanoflakes and nanosheets; and 3D porous nanonetworks. Combined with lithium and beyond lithium ions, these chemically diverse nanoscale building blocks are available for creating energy storage solutions such as wearable and structural energy storage technology, which are not achievable with conventional materials.

Figure 1. Schematic illustration of 3D-Printed Batteries. (A) Diverse architectures of printed battery modules. (B) Manufacturing strategies of printed battery modules. (C) Typical configurations of printed batteries.
Additive Manufacturing for Air Filters
Additive manufacturing offers several benefits for air filter fabrication, including design flexibility, customization and rapid prototyping. Additive manufacturing also presents some challenges for air filter fabrication, including cost, build time, and material limitations. Examples of Air Filters fabricated by additive manufacturing include HEPA filters, activated carbon filters and medical filters. The resolution, throughput, and efficiency of each air filter fabrication process vary depending on the specific process and the materials being used. Traditional air filter fabrication methods, such as melt-blown, dry-laid, and wet-laid, typically have resolutions of 1-10 microns. Micro-fabrication methods, such as electrospinning and photolithography, can produce air filters with resolutions of less than 1 micron. Additive manufacturing methods can also produce air filters with very high resolutions, but the specific resolution will depend on the type of additive manufacturing process being used. Traditional air filter fabrication methods typically have throughputs of 100-1000 filters per hour, whereas micro-fabrication methods typically have lower throughputs, ranging from 1-100 filters per hour. Traditional air filter fabrication methods typically have efficiencies of 90-99%. However micro-fabrication methods can produce air filters with efficiencies of up to 99.99%.
Microneedles for Diagnostic and Delivery of Bio-Injectables
Microneedle-based microdevices promise to expand the scope for delivery of vaccines and therapeutic agents through the skin and withdrawing biofluids for point-of-care diagnostics (so-called theranostics.) Developing the necessary microneedle fabrication processes has the potential to dramatically impact the health care delivery system by changing the landscape of fluid sampling and subcutaneous drug delivery. Microneedle designs which range from sub-micron to millimeter feature sizes may be fabricated using the tools of the microelectronics industry from metals, silicon, and polymers. In addition to microneedles for skin penetration, these microstructures have also been used in other sites of the body including the delivery of bioactive drugs into the eyes and the insertion of molecules into cells using nanoneedles.
In addition to drug delivery, microneedles may be used for drawing blood or interstitial fluid for point-of-care clinical diagnostics. As sensitive, rapid, early diagnosis and treatment of diseases are often critical, microneedle patches may soon play a vital role in point-of-care theranostics. Alternative processes such as 3D printing and one- or two-photon polymerization are promising new transformative technologies. Complex geometries can be realized in a shorter time and with less technical expertise. This is a major advantage for fabrication of microneedle patch arrays requiring integration of microfluidic elements for point-of-care diagnostics or drug delivery.

Figure 2: Schematic illustration of methods of microneedle application to the skin for drug delivery purposes.
Conclusion
Unskilled and painless applications of microneedle patches for blood collection or drug delivery are two of the advantages of microneedle arrays over hypodermic needles. Developing the necessary microneedle fabrication processes has the potential to dramatically impact the health care delivery system by changing the landscape of fluid sampling and subcutaneous drug delivery.