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The ongoing coronavirus pandemic results from one of the deadliest infections this generation has seen: SARS-CoV-2. The situation has overwhelmed healthcare institutions worldwide and highlighted the need for high-throughput virus sensing methods to assist in the rapid and early diagnosis of the virus and associated diseases.
Early identification is central to controlling the pandemic, and vibrational optical spectroscopy techniques such as Raman spectroscopy could be key. The method provides results in real-time and is non-destructive, non-invasive, and highly specific.
Raman Spectroscopy Explained
When light hits a sample, it is scattered in different directions and mostly exhibits the same wavelength as the original light. However, sometimes the light is inelastically scattered. This means the incident light turns energy to molecular vibration and exchanges energy with the sample, changing the light wavelength.
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Heralded as a key technology to improve the environmental credentials and sustainability of manufacturing, 3D printing (or additive manufacturing) certainly meets the main criteria for sustainability – reduce, reuse, and recycle. But upon closer inspection, how viable is it as an alternative to current manufacturing processes?
Why 3D Printing?
Using computer-aided design, 3D printing builds an item up layer by layer in a very precise fashion. Initially, plastics and metal powders were used as the feedstock for the process, but now resins, carbon fibers, and even graphite and graphene are widely used too.
The technique has many advantages over traditional manufacturing methods: it enables rapid prototyping, increases efficiency, and permits the manufacture of unique items. It can also reduce production costs and carbon dioxide emissions from the process, and lower the energy consumption over the lifecycle of a product.