L4DNANO strives for technical breakthroughs in 1) high-accuracy truly 3D-patterning 2) seamless alignment of the light spot size nanostructural units to produce large volume nanostructures, and 3) infiltration of smart materials into the nanostructures. These breakthroughs will enable rapid and accurate 4D-printing of large volume nanomaterials. The project creates new knowledge on LIL energy distribution along z-dimension, metalens for 3D patterning and nanometrology, insights of bioactivity-toxicity to human health and environment of 4D nanomaterials design, and comprehensions of how micro-structures influencing battery performance and lifecycle.

To realise the breakthroughs, L4DNANO has sets up 4 research and innovation objectives (RIO):

1. RIO1: To realise volumetric LIL scanning and deep exposure in photosensitive materials, enabling rapidly and accurately fabricating truly 3D nanostructures. The project aims to achieve < 500 nm accuracy and 100 mm3/min throughput at the same time. (If diameter of laser spot is 2 mm, then there are 5×5×5=125 points should be exposed in 100 mm3, which can be done less than 1 minute using LIL.) This can be justified as the accuracy and efficiency are determined by two separate sets of parameters in LILbased approach. The accuracy depends on the wavelength of the laser and the incident angle between the laser and the surface of the material that the laser applies. The efficiency, on the other hand, relies on the size of the light spot on the surface of the material and the scanning speed. The two sets of parameters are independent. The increase of accuracy does not affect the efficiency and vice versa. We aim to achieve the depth (z- dimension) at sub-mm scale.
2. RIO2: To achieve the optimal stitching between interference pattern units and across patterned layers based on the accurate measures of the energy intensity distributions and LIL patterns in interference areas, leading to the seamless accumulation of 3D nanostructural pattern units for achieving large volume 3D nanostructures. 3D alignment is much more difficult than 2D alignment. There are attempts of 3D alignment. The project’s new LI-bases method aims to achieve alignment accuracy of < 200 nm, which is much more accurate than the state-of-the-art alignment technique.
3. RIO3: To achieve controlled infiltration of smart materials to the 3D nanostructural templates for producing 4D nanomaterials. The surface tension and the intermolecular/interatomic attraction of photosensitive materials can be resistant to infiltration. Reducing the surface energy may be achieved by using external forces, which will involve certain numbers of experiments.
4. RIO4: To pioneer LIL-based 4D-printing with biomedical and engineering applications. L4DNANO showcases the LIL-based 4D-printing with two applications in biomedicine and engineering. The printed products will be verified according to the functionalities and some physical properties by domain experts.