Overview

• The technique uses a custom vat photopolymerization printer that emits dual-wavelength light to cure epoxy monomers into permanent structures and acrylate monomers into dissolvable support scaffolds from a single resin.
• The resin blends acrylate/methacrylate monomers, which solidify under visible light, with epoxy monomers that harden under ultraviolet light, enabling orthogonal curing in a one-step process.
• Immersion of printed objects in a sodium hydroxide solution dissolves support scaffolds in about 15 minutes, yielding nontoxic degradation products.
• The researchers demonstrated the approach on complex geometries such as interlocking rings, a ball-in-cage assembly and dual-helix spheres.
• Potential applications span tissue engineering scaffolds, embedded mechanical joints and micro-mechanical devices in biomedical and advanced manufacturing sectors.