The best of both worlds: A new take on metal-plastic hybrid 3D printing

Current 3D printers employ either plastic or metal only, and the conventional method to coat 3D plastic structures with metal is not environment-friendly and yields poor results. Now, scientists have developed a metal-plastic hybrid 3D printing technique that produces plastic structures with a highly adhesive metal coating on desired areas. This approach extends the use of 3D printers to 3D electronics for future robotics and Internet-of-Things applications.