Research progress and development trend of smart metamaterials

Abstract

The development of smart metamaterials has brought changes to human society, and various new products based on smart metamaterials are emerging endlessly. In recent years, smart electromagnetic metamaterials, smart acoustic metamaterials, smart mechanical metamaterials, smart thermal metamaterials and machine learning have attracted much attention in metamaterials. These fields share similar theories, such as multiphysics coupling fields, novel artificial cells and programmability. Through theoretical and technical research, smart metamaterials will show exquisite applications in many fields, such as antenna and optical communication systems, microwave imaging, acoustic stealth, thermal camouflage, etc. In particular, the characteristics of the personalized microstructure design of smart metamaterials perfectly match the characteristics of 3D printing. The combination of them leads the development of metamaterials, which are undoubtedly of great value. In this paper, focusing on the representative key technologies, we review the development history, main research directions and latest applications of smart metamaterials. Finally, the possible development direction of metamaterials is predicted.

Additive Manufacturing for Terahertz Metamaterials on the Dielectric Surface based on Optimized Electrohydrodynamic Drop-on-demand Printing Technology

“…11,12 In recent years, researchers have displayed considerable enthusiasm for studying metamaterials, given their potential applications in the field of electromagnetics, including but not limited to antennas, 13 photonic filters, 14 and electromagnetic shielding. 10 The traditional fabrication methods for metamaterials are photolithography, 15,16 electron-beam lithography, 17 coating, 18 and etching. 19 Nevertheless, these conventional methods suffer from drawbacks, including intricate processes, 20 lengthy processing cycles, 2 exorbitant costs, 6 material waste resulting from subtractive manufacturing, 21 and environmental pollution caused by the use of chemical corrosion reagents.…”

“…Metamaterials are artificially created structural units to process materials and thus realize properties unattainable by conventional materials . Through alterations in parameters, such as structure shape, size, material composition, and others, metamaterials can exhibit negative dielectric constants, negative refractive indices, , electromagnetic stealth capabilities, and perfect absorption. , In recent years, researchers have displayed considerable enthusiasm for studying metamaterials, given their potential applications in the field of electromagnetics, including but not limited to antennas, photonic filters, and electromagnetic shielding …”

Two-Dimensional Pentamode Metamaterials: Properties, Manufacturing, and Applications

“…Unlike conventional composites, the characteristics of metamaterials stem from their structure, rather than their constituent substances, enabling the realization of properties and functionalities beyond those found in nature [5][6][7]. The domain of metamaterials, encompassing electromagnetic, mechanical, acoustic, and thermal variants, is expanding rapidly [8], fostering the development of innovative applications, such as microwave imaging, acoustic stealth, and thermal camouflage.…”

A review on the mechanical metamaterials and their applications in the field of biomedical engineering

“…Since both acoustic and electromagnetic waves conform to the wave equation, they have the same or similar fluctuating properties, and also have the same wave parameters such as wave vector, wave impedance, and energy flow. Researchers were the first to transfer the research methods of electromagnetic metamaterials to the field of acoustics, thus giving birth to acoustic metamaterials (Song et al, 2021;Zheng et al, 2022).…”