Physicists have printed a 3D boat smaller than the thickness of a hair

Study of microscopic organisms,bacteria or sperm in fluids, carried out using microscopes, requires the creation of microscopic models. A model of a three-dimensional boat with a size of 30 micrometers (0.03 millimeters) printed at Leiden University (Netherlands) will help to solve this problem.

A tiny boat that can turn inhuman hair (40 to 120 μm) created using 3D printing using two-photon stereolithography. The technique used is the solidification of a semi-liquid polymer when exposed to laser beams.

In the real microcosm floating miniature bodiesrarely have an ideal spherical shape, and their movement in the aquatic environment differs from the movement of bodies in the macrocosm. For small objects, the viscosity of water has a large effect on movement.

Boat model, made with a resolution of 10μm, was named 3DBenchy. In addition, a miniature boat is able to independently move in an aquatic environment due to the energy of decomposition of hydrogen peroxide on a platinum catalyst.

Source: naked-science