Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Silver and nickel nano-scaled devices swim through human serum


Two researchers at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego have built swimming devices at the nanoscale that can cruise through liquids when propelled by magnetic fields. These nanoswimmers ultimately could be used to deliver drugs in the human body.

Eric Lauga, from the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Joseph Wang, from the department of nanoengineering, and colleagues made the devices by attaching tails made of silver to heads made of nickel. The nanoswimmers traveled as fast as some natural organisms, including E.Coli, in human serum, according to Chemistry World.

For more information, read the Chemistry World story, or the researchers’ paper in the journal Soft Matter.

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