Printing the Future: Insights into Micro- and Nanostructure Innovation

MaraRobotics is a technology-focused company that places research and innovation at the center of its work. The team is actively engaged in exploring new methods and ideas, while also contributing to discussions within the wider scientific community.

At a recent scientific conference, MaraRobotics was represented by its co-founder and Head of Science, Dr. Natallya Kablukova. Her report examined the application of various printing techniques to create nanostructures — microscopic, precisely engineered materials with potential applications in fields such as electronics, medicine, and robotics.

By demonstrating how these methods can be adapted for nanoscale production, she highlighted an area of research that is attracting growing interest among scientists and engineers alike.

Dr. Natallya Kablukova has spent more than a decade studying two-dimensional structures, with a particular focus on their electrical properties in magnetic fields and their interactions with electromagnetic radiation. She has carried out extensive research in this area and has authored more than 40 articles published in peer-reviewed scientific magazines.

For this article, we interviewed Dr. Natallya Kablukova about her research. We asked her to give the prognosis on the future of micro- and nanostructure production, the role of innovation in this area, and how these advances may influence technology development in the years ahead. 

Here’s what Dr. Kablukova had to say.

What are micro- and nanostructures?

Micro- and nanostructures are materials engineered at extremely small scales, ranging from millionths of a meter (microscale) down to billionths of a meter (nanoscale). At these dimensions, materials often display unique physical, chemical, or electrical properties that differ from their behavior at larger scales. This makes them particularly important in areas such as electronics, medicine, and energy, where precision, efficiency, and novel material behavior are critical.

Key challenges in their production

Despite their potential, the production of micro- and nanostructures still faces several obstacles. One of the main issues is accessibility: advanced analytical equipment is expensive and not always available, limiting the ability of many laboratories to conduct detailed studies.

Another difficulty lies in modeling and reliably creating such structures, which is essential for both fundamental physics research and the design of technically complex devices. These challenges extend beyond academic research and affect industrial sectors. For example, printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing, where traditional lithography has long dominated but shows limitations in flexibility and scalability.

Nanopowders as a foundation for innovation

One promising way forward involves the use of nanopowders — materials composed of particles smaller than 100 nanometers. At this scale, materials exhibit properties different from bulk materials, including greater surface area, higher conductivity, and distinct chemical reactivity. These qualities make nanopowders highly attractive for a wide range of applications like electronics, energy storage, and medical devices. In particular, they are increasingly being explored for the fabrication of thermoelectric materials, which can directly convert heat into electricity.

The use of nanopowders in thermoelectrics offers several advantages:

• Flexibility in formation, using methods such as cold pressing, spark plasma sintering (SPS), 3D printing, and silkscreen printing.

• Opportunities for tailoring composition through alloying and creating heterogeneous structures with controlled grain boundaries.

• Reduced energy consumption during the production of final components.

  
  

What are the technologies that make it possible to turn nanopowders into innovative materials?

Methods of creating structures from nanopowders

To transform nanopowders into usable components, researchers are turning to additive manufacturing technologies. Among the most promising approaches are silk screen printing and 3D printing, both of which offer greater flexibility and accessibility than traditional fabrication methods such as lithography.

Silk screen printing

Originally developed around 1900 for reproducing images and text, silk screen printing gained cultural visibility in the 20th century through artists such as Andy Warhol. Today, the technique has evolved into a practical tool for microelectronics. Specialized conductive inks — based on metals like copper, silver, and gold — are now available for use on different substrates with tailored stencils.

The process of silk screen printing

With these tools, silk screen printing can produce components such as single-sided PCBs or microbatteries, making it a versatile bridge between traditional printing and modern electronics.

However, the method also has drawbacks. Stencil production requires chemicals (though specialized papers can mitigate this), the minimum linear size is limited by mesh resolution (200–300 µm), element boundaries can vary up to 200 µm, and there is no reliable way to control application thickness.

3D printing

In contrast, 3D printing with nanopowders offers significantly greater design flexibility. Unlike silk screen printing, which is limited to two-dimensional deposition, 3D printing enables the fabrication of multilayered and geometrically complex structures by building them layer by layer. 

Using nanopowder-based inks or pastes, the process produces components with precisely controlled micro- and nanostructures. This technology is already being applied to prototype electronic boards, customized sensors, and compact energy storage devices, and it shows strong potential for broader industrial adoption.

3D printing of PCBs. Source: https://www.voltera.io/

However, there are a lot of printers that work with plastics, but not so many that work with metals, ceramics, and semiconductors. As of 2025, we have found only three companies and about 10 research groups that are engaged in this kind of research.

Besides this infrastructural issue, there are the following limitations of 3D printing compared to screen printing:

• A limited range of materials is available, as the maximum diameter of the material grain must be 10 times (and ideally 100 times) smaller than the nozzle size. This problem does not exist in silkscreen printing.

• Complex selection of solution viscosity for layer-by-layer growth if a non-flat part is required.

  
  

How does MaraRobotics employ the techniques for printing micro- and nanostructures?

At MaraRobotics, we explore 3D printing as the most promising method of creating thermoelectric modules. With the help of the special 3D inkjet printers available through our partners, we can create flexible electronics and thermoelectric elements that harvest energy directly from body heat. 

As a team of scientists and engineers, we are constantly being pushed to research new aspects and forms of 3D printing and its application to microelectronics and wearables. And significant progress has already been made in this field — we have already obtained 3 patents. 

The following features are already available:

• Printing with silver, gold, copper, and biocompatible inks, as well as low-temperature ceramics.

• Printing with 10 µm positioning and 20 µm resolution.

• The problem of composing structures from different materials is eliminated.

• Control the filling of microstructure areas during fabrication.

There’s much to research and achieve still, so there’s always room for partnership and collaboration in our innovative constellation.

What are our conclusions?

Together, silkscreen and 3D printing highlight how additive manufacturing is reshaping the way micro- and nanostructures can be produced. However, their production is limited by expensive, specialized equipment and difficulties in accurately modeling and fabricating such structures. These issues affect both research and industry, including PCB manufacturing.

By leveraging the unique properties of nanopowders, silkscreen, and 3D printing not only address some of the current challenges in scalability and accessibility but also open new opportunities for innovation in electronics, energy, and beyond.