A technique of selective electroless plating onto PLA-ABS (Polylactic Acid-Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) composite structures fabricated by three-dimensional (3D) printing is demonstrated to construct 3D microwave metamaterials. The reducing activity of the PLA surface is selectively enhanced by the chemical modification involving Sn2+ in a simple wet process, thereby forming a highly conductive Ag-plated membrane only onto the PLA surface. The fabricated metamaterial composed of Ag-plated PLA and non-plated ABS parts is characterized experimentally and numerically to demonstrate the important bi-anisotropic microwave responses arising from the 3D nature of metallodielectric structures. Our approach based on a simple wet chemical process allows for the creation of highly complex 3D metal-insulator structures, thus paving the way toward the sophisticated microwave applications of the 3D printing technology.
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30 October 2017
Research Article|
November 02 2017
Selective electroless plating of 3D-printed plastic structures for three-dimensional microwave metamaterials
Atsushi Ishikawa
;
Atsushi Ishikawa
a)
1
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Okayama University
, 3-1-1 Tsushimanaka, Kitaku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
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Taiki Kato;
Taiki Kato
1
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Okayama University
, 3-1-1 Tsushimanaka, Kitaku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
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Nobuyuki Takeyasu;
Nobuyuki Takeyasu
2
Department of Chemistry, Okayama University
, 3-1-1 Tsushimanaka, Kitaku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
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Kazuhiro Fujimori;
Kazuhiro Fujimori
1
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Okayama University
, 3-1-1 Tsushimanaka, Kitaku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
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Kenji Tsuruta
Kenji Tsuruta
1
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Okayama University
, 3-1-1 Tsushimanaka, Kitaku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
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a)
Electronic mail: a-ishikawa@okayama-u.ac.jp.
Appl. Phys. Lett. 111, 183102 (2017)
Article history
Received:
June 02 2017
Accepted:
October 21 2017
Citation
Atsushi Ishikawa, Taiki Kato, Nobuyuki Takeyasu, Kazuhiro Fujimori, Kenji Tsuruta; Selective electroless plating of 3D-printed plastic structures for three-dimensional microwave metamaterials. Appl. Phys. Lett. 30 October 2017; 111 (18): 183102. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4986203
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