DEVELOPMENT OF INKS FOR 3D PRINTING OF BLOCK COPOLYMER SELF-ASSEMBLY DIRECTED HIERARCHICALLY STRUCTURED OXIDES
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The 3D printing technique of Direct Ink Writing (DIW) allows the fabrication of functional materials of various form factors and geometries. Combining this technique with inks made from block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly directed inorganic precursors provides access to hierarchically ordered hybrids. Through subsequent thermal processing, such hybrids can be converted into functional materials for applications ranging from catalyst supports to quantum information science. Here, the development of alcoholic inks for DIW is discussed that consist of Pluronics family block copolymers and sol-gel precursors for various transition metal oxides, i.e., niobia and titania. Thin film experiments guide the choice of the ink composition and rheological studies guide the choice of the ink composition and mode of DIW printing into woodpile lattice structures. Resulting as-made hybrids and final oxides are characterized by a combination of small-angle and wide-angle x-ray scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and nitrogen sorption. Finally, in the case of niobia based woodpile structures, further conversion into niobium nitride is demonstrated via thermal processing in ammonia. Such nitrides, once optimized for the right crystal size, demonstrate superconductivity. This opens pathways to the direct printing of quantum materials with arbitrary form factors and well-defined mesostructures from BCP self-assembly leading to quantum metamaterials behavior.