*Uh-oh. Why did nobody think of this before?
http://www.nature.com/news/homegrown-labware-made-with-3d-printer-1.10453
(...)
"Led by Leroy Cronin, a chemist at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, the researchers took advantage of 3D printing — a computer-guided process that builds up solid objects layer by layer (((yes, yes get on with the story))) — to cast a variety of reaction vessels from the quick-setting bathroom sealant. (!)
"One vessel was printed with catalyst-laced 'ink', enabling the container walls to drive chemical reactions. (((Whaah?))) Another container included built-in electrodes, made from skinny strips of polymer printed with a conductive carbon-based additive. The strips carried currents that stimulated an electrochemical reaction within the vessel.
“Chemistry, for the last 200 years, has been done in a fixed, passive reactor,” says Cronin, referring to the conventional glass flasks and other vessels that are standard issue in most chemistry labs. “That has just changed.”
"Using the new labware — which they call “reactionware” — the group synthesized three novel compounds: two inorganic solids and one organic fluid. (((Quick exercise for reader: what would terrorists, mafia and drug dealers most like to synthesize, using these exciting new methods?)))
"The researchers also printed containers customized with holes and slots into which could be added extra hardware, such as glass viewing windows, fibre-optic cables or electrodes for monitoring and controlling chemical reactions. (((Gosh how downright nifty-keen.))) Integrated fibre optics (((oh gee whiz))) helped the researchers analyse a solution’s changing colour inside the vessel without decanting the product.
"In each experiment, scientists used a needle to pierce the reaction vessel and draw reagents from separate wells into a mixing chamber. Vessels made from bathroom sealant spontaneously re-seal around the puncture sites after use. (((And they're rubbery blobjects, to boot! Do they have built-in blogging and tweeting?))) The researchers also sliced through some of the containers they made to recover solid reaction products, then glued the two halves together for subsequent experiments.
"According to Cronin, the 3D printer used for the work cost US$2,000, and the bathroom sealant is available at hardware stores. He and his colleagues designed the vessels and controlled the printer using free, open-source software...." (((Good thing they weren't waiting around to find some of that stuff stocked on WalMart shelves.)))
via @digitag and @livingarchitect
