Liquid bridged deposition for 3D shaping

Abstract

Additive manufacturing has emerged as a vital technology for fabricating three-dimensional (3D) structures. However, in many cutting-edge applications, creating sophisticated 3D metallic structures with high surface quality and precision is required, which remains a significant challenge. Here we developed the liquid bridge-constrained electrodeposition for 3D shaping. Leveraging the discontinuous dewetting of wettability contrast pattern, the catenoid-like liquid bridge was spontaneously formed between the electrolyte pool and the surface plate. The liquid bridge serves a tunnel, to effectively confine the deposition and enable precision growth of 3D curved structures. The generated umbrella-shaped structure exhibits a base diameter of 0.4 mm, a maximum width of 1.0 mm, and achieves an aspect ratio of 0.6, with its sidewall profile perfectly conforming to the catenary equation. Furthermore, these structures have fine surface quality while exhibiting hardness comparable to those of pure copper. Notably, leveraging engineered wettability patterns enables scalable fabrication of 3 × 3 arrayed 3D structures, demonstrating that utilizing liquid bridge electrodeposition to achieve bulk fabrication is readily feasible. This method simultaneously considers the manufacturing requirements of 3D complexity, accuracy, scalability and discontinuous dewetting, which holds promise for applications ranging from heat transfer, microfluidic and electronic devices where 3D shaping of exquisite structures matters.