Direct Laser Writing of Functional Material with Independently Tunable Electrical and Mechanical Properties

Conventional approaches often rely on blending conductive metal nanoparticles (NPs) into a polymer matrix, where the pursuit of high conductivity can compromise mechanical integrity, and vice versa.

We report a reagent-engineering strategy for direct laser writing (DLW) that decouples this fabrication challenge. By formulating a precursor that combines a metal salt or metalate with a suspension of NPs as a reducing agent, we achieve the single-step deposition of homogeneous metal-NP composites. Electrical characterization reveals that conductivity is primarily governed by the choice of metal salt or metalate, spanning several orders of magnitude, while changes in the NP filler induce only a moderate variation.