Fig. 3: Schematic representations of emerging single-step direct fabrication techniques for metal-polymer systems.

a Electrical Field-assisted Heterogeneous Material Printing (EF-HMP), where UV-curable PEGDA-based resin is selectively patterned using a DMD projector, followed by copper ion deposition under an applied electric field. Copyright from ref. 58, b Polymer-assisted Photochemical Deposition (PPD), utilizing a DLP projection system to photochemically reduce silver ions into continuous films without substrate motion or vacuum processes. Copyright from ref. 59, and c Polymerization-Induced Phase Separation (3D PIPS) in vat photopolymerization, illustrating functional material migration and surface localization during curing, enabling the formation of functional coatings on printed parts. Copyright from ref. 60.