Laser micro-printing of biomedical multi-materials (biopolymers and metals)

Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) is an innovative Additive Manufacturing (AM) process in which a small volume (e.g., 5 femtoliters) of a thin donor film is transferred to a substrate via a laser. Recent progress in this area has been reported in the fields of biomedicine and metal deposition. Some initial research to combine metals and polymers has been carried out, which is crucial for flexible electronics or multi-material printing. Despite these efforts, the LIFT of pure metals directly onto curved polymers with high mutual adhesion is challenging because of the different physical properties and phases undergone during the process. These challenges need to be overcome to obtain high mechanical stability, reproducibility, and good adhesion for medical devices in an economically viable fashion..

Daniel studied Electrical Engineering at Valencia College where he specialized in Lasers and
Photonics and earned a Master of Science in Lasers and Photonics from
Ruhr-Universität Bochum. His master’s thesis was completed at the Chair for
Applied Laser Technologies, titled “Printing of functionalized microfluidic
devices using One-Photon and Two-Photon Polymerization”, which focused on
manufacturing microfluidic devices using photopolymerization techniques such as
Digital Light Processing and Stereolithography. Daniel’s interests include
ultrafast laser processing of polymers and metals, laser-based additive
manufacturing of medical devices, and printing complex micro/nanostructures.