3D printing for chemical, pharmaceutical and biological applications

3D printing is becoming increasingly prevalent in modern chemistry laboratories. The ability to design, prototype and print functional parts for specific reactions, to embed catalytic or analytical functionality into a chemical device, or even to print common laboratory hardware and teaching aids is a useful addition to the chemists’ array of tools. Although 3D printing is becoming more mainstream in general, and access to affordable desktop printers has increased significantly, there are some design principles and materials considerations that need to be considered before employing 3D printed devices in the chemistry laboratory. There is also a learning curve to using computer aided design (CAD) and printing software which must be overcome, and there are still some barriers to entry with respect to specialist hardware associated with more high-end instrumentation. Nonetheless, the recent progress that has been made in this field is encouraging, with these printing technologies offering many advantages over traditional methods. This review sets out to highlight some of the significant advances that have been made in this growing area within the last decade.