3D printing in separation science: Hype or reality

Abstract

[eng] Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an emerging and enabling technology that is paving its way in different fields of research, including analytical science, for the fabrication of custom devices and portable sensing platforms based on additive manufacturing of objects from Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models. In fact, the last five years have witnessed tremendous advances in novel materials and composites with improved chemical properties (e.g., noble metals, carbon nanomaterials, and chemically resistant polymers). Printing platforms for fabrication of low-cost devices have capitalized on stereolithography (SLA) or dynamic light processing (DLP), inkjet printing, fused deposition modelling (FDM), and selective laser sintering (SLS) that enable decentralized (in situ) measurements. The main advantage of 3D printing is the capability of rapid and single-step prototyping of holders, scaffolds, and integrated complex systems with geometries that cannot easily be manufactured by conventional means, such as computer numerical controlled milling and soft-lithographic approaches. Furthermore, the outreach of this technique has been expanded by the lowering costs of the machinery, the user-friendliness of the CAD software and especially the commercial strategies addressed to the nontechnical and nonscientific collective, currently called the 'maker community'.