Microfishing robots

DailyTechInfo based on Gizmag materials: 3D-printed microscopic fish could be forerunners to smart "microbots" 

A tiny figure in the form of a fish, made with the help of three-dimensional printing technologies, the size of which is smaller than the thickness of a human hair, will someday in the future be able to deliver medicines to certain parts of the body, remove toxins from various liquids and perform a lot of other useful actions. Developed by specialists at the University of California, San Diego, these so-called "microfishes" are self-propelled micro-robots with magnetic control, which are powered by the chemical energy of hydrogen peroxide. It should be noted that such microfishes, which will be located inside specialized "tablets", can become one of the many types of micro-robots that have their own functionality and specialization.

Here and below are drawings from the UC San Diego press release These microscopic fish are 3D-printed to do more than swim - VM.

These microfishes are far from the first micro-robots created recently. Other types include the micro-mollusk robot, which was named because of its propulsion system, micro-robots made of air bubbles that are powered by laser light, and magnetic micro-robots that are able to move in liquid or air under the control of an external magnetic field.

Microfishes differ from other similar micro-robots in the simplicity of their manufacture and a large number of actions that they can perform. They are made using the technology of micro-scale optical three-dimensional printing with high resolution, which allows researchers to print hundreds and thousands of such fish at once, the length of which is 120 microns, and the thickness is 20 microns. And with the help of specialized CAD software, researchers can control the printing process, giving microfishes the shape of a tiny shark, manta rays and even a bird.

The tail of each microfishing contains platinum nanoparticles, and in its head part – magnetic particles of iron oxide. When such a fish is placed in a liquid medium that contains a certain amount of hydrogen peroxide, platinum particles act as a catalyst that decomposes hydrogen peroxide. The gas bubbles released at the same time move the microfishing forward. And an external magnetic field acting on iron nanoparticles directs the microfishing strictly in a given direction.

As a test of the technology's performance, the researchers conducted an experiment on detoxification of the liquid. In this case, a substance neutralizing toxins was applied to the surface of the microfishes, which emitted light during the chemical neutralization reaction. When these microfishes were placed in a solution with a toxin, they all began to glow with an intense red light, allowing the researchers to direct them in the direction where the intensity of the glow was maximum. This prompted the researchers that such micro-robots can simultaneously perform two functions, a sensor and a neutralizer of certain chemical compounds.

And in the future, such micro robots have a very extensive field of their application. They can be used for the delivery of medicines, for environmental control, for the elimination of the consequences of man-made disasters and much more. And now researchers are working on the design of such a surgical micro robot, groups of which will be able to perform simple surgical operations right inside the patient's body without the need for a cardinal violation of its integrity.

The article by Zhu et al. 3D-Printed Artificial Microfish is published in the journal Advanced Materials – VM.Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru

01.09.2015