Nanolattice

Driven by the evolution of 3D printing techniques, nanolattices aiming to exploit beneficial material size effects through miniaturized lattice designs were first developed in the mid-2010s,.

To produce nanolattice materials, polymer templates are manufactured by high-resolution 3D printing processes, such as multiphoton lithography, self-assembly, self-propagating photopolymer waveguides, and direct laser writing techniques.

Ceramic, metal or composite material nanolattices are formed by post-treatment of the polymer templates with techniques including pyrolysis, atomic layer deposition, electroplating and electroless plating.

[5] Pyrolysis, which additionally shrinks the lattices by up to 90%, creates the smallest-size structures, whereby the polymeric template material transforms into carbon,[1] or other ceramics[7] and metals,[8] through thermal decomposition in inert atmosphere or vacuum.

The straightforward workaround to overcome this challenge is to combine bulk processes with thin film deposition techniques to retain the frame space hollow structure.

[citation needed] The first market for nanolattices may be small-scale, small-lot components for biomedical, electrochemical, microfluidic, and aerospace applications, which require highly customizable and extreme combinations of properties.