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Colloids

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Children at play often make suspensions such as mixtures of mud and water, flour and water, or a suspension of solid pigments in water known as tempera paint. These suspensions are heterogeneous mixtures composed of relatively large particles that are visible to the naked eye or can be seen with a magnifying glass. They are cloudy, and the suspended particles settle out after mixing. On the other hand, a solution is a homogeneous mixture in which no settling occurs and in which the dissolved...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 5, 2025

Preparation and 3D Tracking of Catalytic Swimming Devices

Preparation and 3D Tracking of Catalytic Swimming Devices

Published on: July 1, 2016

Catalytically propelled 3D printed colloidal microswimmers.

Rachel P Doherty¹, Thijs Varkevisser, Margot Teunisse

¹Soft Matter Physics, Huygens-Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9504, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. kraft@physics.leidenuniv.nl.

|October 15, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers used 3D printing to create complex-shaped synthetic microswimmers. This breakthrough allows for shape-dependent studies of active motion, moving beyond simple spherical designs.

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Area of Science:

Soft Matter Physics
Colloidal Science
Nanotechnology

Background:

Synthetic microswimmers are crucial for studying non-equilibrium systems.
Existing synthetic microswimmers are predominantly spherical, limiting research scope.
Biological microswimmers exhibit diverse shapes, inspiring new synthetic designs.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a method for creating complex-shaped synthetic microswimmers.
To demonstrate control over active site placement in microswimmers.
To investigate shape-dependent behavior in synthetic microswimmers.

Main Methods:

Utilizing 3D printing via two-photon polymerization.
Fabricating colloidal particles with sizes under 10 microns.
Controlling active site orientation during particle synthesis.
Analyzing particle motion and mean square displacement in passive and active states.

Main Results:

Successfully produced microswimmers with high shape complexity using 3D printing.
Demonstrated precise control over the active site location.
Verified colloidal behavior of the fabricated particles.
Observed distinct, shape-dependent behaviors in microswimmer motion.

Conclusions:

3D printing offers unprecedented flexibility in designing synthetic microswimmers.
This method enables the creation of diverse microswimmer shapes for advanced research.
The findings open new avenues for studying shape-dependent active matter phenomena.