All-in-liquid printing promises applications from energy storage to drug delivery and tissue engineering. Our recent publication in “Nature Communications” presents the spontaneous generation of an emulsified interfacial layer that forms 3D tube-like structures in a liquid medium, which we demonstrate enables new opportunities in 3D printing. The interfacial skin, separating water and oil, forms in a fraction of a second and is regenerated when damaged. The printed tube is highly stable for over two months and is flexible, expanding or shrinking depending on the liquid flow rate inside the tube. The 3D structure is porous, which facilitates interactions between the printed frame and surrounding media, resembling miniaturized versions of “tube sponges” in the oceans. This technique, depositing an aqueous phase into an oil medium and consequently turning the printed phase into a structured network of emulsion droplets in-situ, opens new possibilities for all-in-liquid printing materials. 

For more details, please check out the paper: 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31644-2

Spongy all-in-liquid materials by in-situ formation of emulsions at oil-water interfaces | Nature Communications All-in-liquid printing promises applications from energy storage to drug delivery and tissue engineering. Here, authors present the in-situ generation of layered emulsion in a fraction of a second ... www.nature.com