Inspired by natural porous architectures, numerous attempts have been made to generate porous structures. Owing to the smooth surfaces, highly interconnected porous architectures, and mathematical controllable geometry features, triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) is emerging as an outstanding solution to constructing porous structures in recent years. However, many advantages of TPMS are not fully utilized in current research. Critical problems of the process from design, manufacturing to applications need further systematic and integrated discussions. In this work, a comprehensive overview of TPMS porous structures is provided. In order to generate the digital models of TPMS, the geometry design algorithms and performance control strategies are introduced according to diverse requirements. Based on that, precise additive manufacturing methods are summarized for fabricating physical TPMS products. Furthermore, actual multidisciplinary applications are presented to clarify the advantages and further potential of TPMS porous structures. Eventually, the existing problems and further research outlooks are discussed.

Atomic and close-to-atomic scale manufacturing (ACSM) aims to provide techniques for manufacturing in various fields, such as circuit manufacturing, high energy physics equipment, and medical devices and materials. The realization of atomic scale material manipulation depending on the theoretical system of classical mechanics faces great challenges. Understanding and using intermolecular and surface forces are the basis for better designing of ACSM. Transformation of atoms based on scanning tunneling microscopy or atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an essential process to regulate intermolecular interactions. Self-assemble process is a thermodynamic process involving complex intermolecular forces. The competition of these interaction determines structure assembly and packing geometry. For typical nanomachining processes including AFM nanomachining and chemical mechanical polishing, the coupling of chemistry and stress (tribochemistry) assists in the removal of surface atoms. Furthermore, based on the principle of triboelectrochemistry, we expect a further reduction of the potential barrier, and a potential application in high-efficiency atoms removal and fabricating functional coating. Future fundamental research is proposed for achieving high-efficiency and high-accuracy manufacturing with the aiding of external field. This review highlights the significant contribution of intermolecular and surface forces to ACSM, and may accelerate its progress in the in-depth investigation of fundamentals.

Developments in advanced manufacturing have promoted the miniaturization of semiconductor electronic devices to a near-atomic scale, which continuously follows the ‘top-down’ construction method. However, huge challenges have been encountered with the exponentially increased cost and inevitably prominent quantum effects. Molecular electronics is a highly interdisciplinary subject that studies the quantum behavior of electrons tunneling in molecules. It aims to assemble electronic devices in a ‘bottom-up’ manner on this scale through a single molecule, thereby shedding light on the future design of logic circuits with new operating principles. The core technologies in this field are based on the rapid development of precise fabrication at a molecular scale, regulation at a quantum scale, and related applications of the basic electronic component of the ‘electrode–molecule–electrode junction’. Therefore, the quantum charge transport properties of the molecule can be controlled to pave the way for the bottom-up construction of single-molecule devices. The review firstly focuses on the collection and classification of the construction methods for molecular junctions. Thereafter, various characterization and regulation methods for molecular junctions are discussed, followed by the properties based on tunneling theory at the quantum scale of the corresponding molecular electronic devices. Finally, a summary and perspective are given to discuss further challenges and opportunities for the future design of electronic devices.

Carbon nanotube (CNT), particularly single-walled CNT, possesses exceptional properties, and can be utilized in many high-end applications including high-performance electronics. However, the atomic arrangement of a CNT determines its band structure, making the atomic-precision fabrication one of most important topics for the development of this material. In this perspective, the author gives a personal summary on the history, current status of the atomic-precision fabrication of CNT and outlines the remaining challenges as well as the possible paths that may lead the production of atomically precise CNTs from ‘fabrication’ to ‘manufacturing’.

Two-dimensional (2D) thermoelectric (TE) materials have been widely developed; however, some 2D materials exhibit isotropic phonon, electron transport properties, and poor TE performance, which limit their application scope. Thus, exploring excellent anisotropic and ultrahigh-performance TE materials are very warranted. Herein, we first investigate the phonon thermal and TE properties of a novel 2D-connectivity ternary compound named Ga₂I₂S₂. This paper comprehensively studies the phonon dispersion, phonon anharmonicity, lattice thermal conductivity, electronic structure, carrier mobility, Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) versus carrier concentration for 2D Ga₂I₂S₂. We conclude that the in-plane lattice thermal conductivities of Ga₂I₂S₂ at room temperature (300 K) are found to be 1.55 W mK^-1 in the X-axis direction (xx-direction) and 3.82 W mK^-1 in the Y-axis direction (yy-direction), which means its anisotropy ratio reaches 1.46. Simultaneously, the TE performance of p-type and n-type doping 2D Ga₂I₂S₂ also shows significant anisotropy, giving rise to the ZT peak values of p-type doping in xx- and yy-directions being 0.81 and 1.99, respectively, and those of n-type doping reach ultrahigh values of 7.12 and 2.89 at 300 K, which are obviously higher than the reported values for p-type and n-type doping ternary compound Sn₂BiX (ZT ~1.70 and ~2.45 at 300 K) (2020 Nano Energy 67   104283). This work demonstrates that 2D Ga₂I₂S₂ has high anisotropic TE conversion efficiency and can also be used as a new potential room-temperature TE material.

Tungsten (W) and stainless steel (SS) are well known for the high melting point and good corrosion resistance respectively. Bimetallic W–SS structures would offer potential applications in extreme environments. In this study, a SS→W→SS sandwich structure is fabricated via a special laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) method based on an ultrasonic-assisted powder deposition mechanism. Material characterization of the SS→W interface and W→SS interface was conducted, including microstructure, element distribution, phase distribution, and nano-hardness. A coupled modelling method, combining computational fluid dynamics modelling with discrete element method, simulated the melt pool dynamics and solidification at the material interfaces. The study shows that the interface bonding of SS→W (SS printed on W) is the combined effect of solid-state diffusion with different elemental diffusion rates and grain boundary diffusion. The keyhole mode of the melt pool at the W→SS (W printed on SS) interface makes the pre-printed SS layers repeatedly remelted, causing the liquid W to flow into the sub-surface of the pre-printed SS through the keyhole cavities realizing the bonding of the W→SS interface. The above interfacial bonding behaviours are significantly different from the previously reported bonding mechanism based on the melt pool convection during multiple material LPBF. The abnormal material interfacial bonding behaviours are reported for the first time.

Surface modification for micro-nanoparticles at the atomic and close-to-atomic scales is of great importance to enhance their performance in various applications, including high-volume battery, persistent luminescence, etc. Fluidized bed atomic layer deposition (FB-ALD) is a promising atomic-scale manufacturing technology that offers ultrathin films on large amounts of particulate materials. Nevertheless, nanoparticles tend to agglomerate due to the strong cohesive forces, which is much unfavorable to the film conformality and also hinders their real applications. In this paper, the particle fluidization process in an ultrasonic vibration-assisted FB-ALD reactor is numerically investigated from micro-scale to macro-scale through the multiscale computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD-DEM) modeling with experimental verification. Various vibration amplitudes and frequencies are investigated in terms of their effects on the fluid dynamics, distribution of particle velocity and solid volume fraction, as well as the size of agglomerates. Results show that the fluid turbulent kinetic energy, which is the key power source for the particles to obtain the kinetic energy for overcoming the interparticle agglomeration forces, can be strengthened obviously by the ultrasonic vibration. Besides, the application of ultrasonic vibration is found to reduce the mean agglomerate size in the FB. This is bound to facilitate the heat transfer and precursor diffusion in the entire FB-ALD reactor and the agglomerates, which can largely shorten the coating time and improve the film conformality as well as precursor utilization. The simulation results also agree well with our battery experimental results, verifying the validity of the multiscale CFD-DEM model. This work has provided momentous guidance to the mass manufacturing of atomic-scale particle coating from lab-scale to industrial applications.

Active infrared thermography has gained increasing popularity for nondestructive testing and evaluation in various industrial fields, especially for composite structures. In this regard, thermal wave radar (TWR) imaging is recognized as the next-generation active thermography technology to obtain great resolution and depth range over the inspected objects. A critical aspect concerns the optimal test parameter selection to guarantee reliable quality assurance required for industrial products. In this work, single- and multiple-frequency TWR was investigated in a quantitative manner with the goal of optimizing the detection parameters in terms of probing range and lateral and depth resolution. The effects of test parameters, including sampling frequency, modulation frequency, chirp duration, chirp bandwidth, etc, were investigated in detail through experiments on a glass fiber reinforced polymer specimen with multi-scale diameter-to-depth ratio defects. This paper aims to help yield a better understanding of the physical mechanism behind TWR and propose a workable scheme for testing parameter selection in practical applications.

The flat plane of small surface roughness below 0.1 µm average roughness was obtained for monocrystalline diamond by nanosecond pulsed laser irradiation of 1060 nm and post-process acid cleaning, at a laser fluence around the material removal threshold value. The glossy and flat plane at the bottom of the micro-groove was parallel to the top surface of the specimen, although the round beam of Gaussian mode was irradiated in the direction perpendicular to the top surface of specimen. The square beam of top-hat mode produced a shallower micro-groove with a wider, flatter bottom compared with the round beam in Gaussian mode. The creation method of the flat plane with small surface roughness was discussed in the arrangement strategy of linear micro-grooving by the square beam of top-hat mode. Normal side-by-side repetition of linear micro-grooving did not create a flat plane with constant depth. Therefore, a two-step scanning method was proposed in order to overcome the problem in the normal side-by-side repetition of liner micro-grooving. Non-removal areas were partly retained between the processing lines in the first step, and the laser scanning was conducted on the retained area in the second step. The newly proposed two-step scanning method was practical and useful to create a widely flat plane with small surface roughness, and the two-step scanning method provided superior control over the micro-groove depth. This proposed method can reduce the surface roughness in addition to the shape creation of monocrystalline diamond, and it can be used as a high-quality micro-shape fabrication method of monocrystalline diamond.

Smart windows with tunable optical properties that respond to external environments are being developed to reduce energy consumption in buildings. In the present study, we introduce a new type of 3D printed hydrogel with amazing flexibility and stretchability (as large as 1500%), as well as tunable optical performance controlled by surrounding temperatures. The hydrogel on a PDMS substrate shows transparent-opaque transition with high solar modulation (∆T_sol) up to 79.332% around its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) while maintaining a high luminous transmittance (T_lum) of 85.847% at 20 ◦C. In addition, selective transparent-opaque transition above LCST can be achieved by patterned hydrogels which are precisely fabricated via a projection micro-stereolithography based 3D printing technique. Our hydrogel promises great potential applications for the next generation of soft smart windows.

Diamond turning based on a fast tool servo (FTS) is widely used in freeform optics fabrication due to its high accuracy and machining efficiency. As a new trend, recently developed high-frequency and long-stroke FTS units are independently driven by a separate control system from the machine tool controller. However, the tool path generation strategy for the independently controlled FTS is far from complete. This study aims to establish methods for optimizing tool path for the independent control FTS to reduce form errors in a single step of machining. Different from the conventional integrated FTS control system, where control points are distributed in a spiral pattern, in this study, the tool path for the independent FTS controller is generated by the ring method and the mesh method, respectively. The machined surface profile is predicted by simulation and the parameters for the control point generation are optimized by minimizing the deviation between the predicted and the designed surfaces. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed tool path generation strategies, cutting tests of a two-dimensional sinewave and a micro-lens array were conducted and the results were compared. As a result, after tool path optimization, the peak-to-valley form error of the machined surface was reduced from 429 nm to 56 nm for the two-dimensional sinewave by using the ring method, and from 191 nm to 103 nm for the micro-lens array by using the mesh method, respectively.