Scientists have developed a method of 3D water printing
April 01, 2018 | 21:03 |1454
Scientists from the Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), US, have developed a way to print 3-D structures composed entirely of liquids. They envision their all-liquid material could be used to construct liquid electronics that power flexible, stretchable devices. Using a modified 3-D printer, they injected threads of water into silicone oil — sculpting tubes made of one liquid within another liquid. At present, a team of scientists led by Tom Russell has printed threads of water between 10 microns and 1 millimeter in diameter, up to several meters in length. The material can conform to its surroundings and repeatedly change shape.Arslan KEMALOV
The technology is based on the preservation of the shape of water molecules in the oil medium. Due to this structure, the printed threads of the water can permanently retain its shape and restore it in case of deformation.
“It’s a new class of material that can reconfigure itself. To produce it, we used a mineral oil base with the addition of molecules of hydrophobic polymers. We also used “ink” from water with the addition of hydrophilic gold particles, “mentions in the study.
“Polymer molecules with gold form a “needle”, one side of which is hydrophobic (avoids contact with water), and the other is hydrophilic (attracts water).” Practically speaking, not long after the water is infused into the oil, many ligands in the oil append to individual nanoparticles in the water, framing a nanoparticle supersoap. These super soaps stick together and vitrify, similar to glass, which settles the interface amongst oil and water and secures the position of the fluid structure. It allows the threads of water to be created.
Due to its electro conductivity feature, the reconfigurable material could be used for liquid electronics, among other applications.
