![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Large-iron-gyroid-1.3-x-1.0-cm.-Credit-ALCHEMY-EPFL-CC-BY-SA-1024x576.jpg\")
Large iron gyroid (1.3 x 1.0 cm). Credit ALCHEMY EPFL CC BY SA<\/p>\n Large iron gyroid (1.3 x 1.0 cm). Credit ALCHEMY EPFL CC BY SA<\/p>\n
Swiss researchers have pioneered a method of cultivating metal out of water-based gel, an innovation that promises valuable applications in energy technology.<\/p>\n
The concept aims to power the production of unique sensors, biomedical devices, or energy conversion and storage components.<\/p>\n
Scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne, in Switzerland, have created dense, high-strength structures by injecting hydrogel with metal salts of various minerals like iron and copper. Early results show materials 20-times stronger with much less shrinkage than earlier methods.<\/p>\n
As novel a concept as \u201ccultivating metal\u201d sounds like, it\u2019s actually been done before, but challenges presented themselves which could not be overcome in these previous experiments.<\/p>\n
They involved vat photopolymerization\u2014a type of 3D printing that sees pouring a light-reactive liquid resin into a container and then solidifying specific areas with a laser or ultraviolet light to create a shape. However, because this method only works with light-sensitive polymers, its practical uses are limited.<\/p>\n
Daryl Yee, who leads the Laboratory for the Chemistry of Materials and Manufacturing at EPFL\u2019s School of Engineering, said these earlier approaches have major flaws.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese materials tend to be porous, which significantly reduces their strength, and the parts suffer from excessive shrinkage, which causes warping,\u201d he told his university press<\/a>.<\/p>\n To address these issues, Yee and his team have introduced a new approach described in their paper published<\/a> in Advanced Materials. Instead of hardening a resin already mixed with metal compounds, the researchers first 3D print a framework using a simple water-based gel known as a hydrogel. They then soak this \u201cblank\u201d structure in metal salts, which are chemically converted into tiny metal-containing nanoparticles that spread throughout the gel. Repeating this process multiple times allows them to create composites with very high metal content.<\/p>\n After 5\u201310 of these \u201cgrowth cycles,\u201d the remaining hydrogel is removed through heating, leaving behind a dense metal or ceramic object that precisely matches the shape of the original printed gel. Because the metal salts are added only after printing, the same hydrogel template can be used to make a variety of different metals, ceramics, or composite materials.<\/p>\n \u201cOur work not only enables the fabrication of high-quality metals and ceramics with an accessible, low-cost 3D printing process; it also highlights a new paradigm in additive manufacturing where material selection occurs after 3D printing, rather than before,\u201d Yee summarizes.<\/p>\n For their study, the team fabricated intricate mathematical lattice shapes called gyroids out of iron, silver, and copper, demonstrating their technique\u2019s ability to produce strong yet complex structures. To test the strength of their materials, they used a device called a universal testing machine to apply increasing pressure to the gyroids.<\/p>\n