3D Printing of Metal and Alloy Nanoarchitectures through a Complexation-Driven Strategy

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3D metal/alloy nanoarchitectures demonstrate transformative potential for next-generation technologies including metamaterials, nanophotonics, and microrobotics. Current metal/alloy nanomanufacturing methods are often restricted to limited metals and simple geometries. Herein, we propose a versatile and scalable method for fabricating 3D metal-alloy nanoarchitectures through a complexation-driven strategy. By leveraging the complexation of metal ions with carboxyl groups, various metal ions are incorporated into acrylic acid-based polymer scaffolds. Subsequent thermal decomposition and reduction transform these scaffolds into metallic nanoarchitectures. As most metal ions can engage in complexation, we successfully fabricated seven distinct elemental metal nanoarchitectures and their corresponding alloy variants, substantiating the versatility of our method. This work establishes a scalable platform for nanoscale metal and alloy manufacturing, opening new possibilities for advanced nanoengineering applications.