Demonstrates enhanced nanostructure ordering in printed polymers, suggesting improved mechanical properties.
Additive manufacturing (3D printing) allows the fabrication of complex 3D geometries, yet the integration of long‐range ordered nanostructures within printed materials remains a fundamental challenge. In vat photopolymerization, rapid crosslinking kinetics typically arrest block copolymers in kinetically trapped, disordered morphologies. Here, we introduce Polymerization‐Induced Arrangement of Nanostructures with Order‐tunability (PIANO), a strategy that overcomes this kinetic mismatch by decoupling nanoscale ordering from network formation. PIANO utilizes a mobility mediator, ethylene glycol, to enhance polymer chain mobility, enabling rapid in situ ordering, while maintaining a hydrogen‐bonding network capable of sustaining 3D printing stresses. This approach yields tunable lamellar and hexagonally packed cylindrical morphologies with domain spacings of 20–60 nm. Furthermore, ethylene glycol acts as a latent crosslinker during post‐printing annealing, locking the ordered nanostructure while enhancing macroscopic mechanical strength. By reconciling the divergent timescales of molecular self‐assembly and additive manufacturing, this strategy provides a robust platform for the hierarchical design of functional systems.
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Wu et al. (2026) studied this question.
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