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Today we have an exciting story to share with you. Scientists at ETH Zurich have developed a novel method to use FluidFM as a precise micro 3D printing tool for metal structures and other potentially interesting materials.

The new method offers great opportunities for research and industrial application and we are working hard to bring this technology into the hands of our customers as fast as possible.

Successful collaboration with ETH Zurich.

The core technology of the new method has been developed in the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics at ETH Zurich. The long-standing collaboration of ETH Zurich and Cytosurge has been very fruitful for both parties from the beginning. We constantly provide our ETH partners with our newest devices and prototypes. They can use these for their own research. This way they help us with testing of the instruments and offer suggestions for improvement and further developments. “It’s a mutual give and take of which both sides profit greatly”, says Tomaso Zambelli, associate lecturer and group leader at the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics at ETH Zurich. This win-win setup has now yielded in the development of this promising new micro 3D printing technique.

Feeling the object that is being built.

A significant advantage of the new method over other micro 3D printing processes is that the forces acting on the apex of the FluidFM pipette can be measured and controlled with high precision. “We can use this signal as feedback. Unlike other 3D printing systems, ours can detect which areas of the object have already been printed,” says Luca Hirt, ETH doctoral student and inventor of the new 3D printing technique. “This will make it easier to further automate and scale the printing process.”

“This method can be also be used to print not only copper but also other metals,” adds Tomaso Zambelli, “FluidFM may even be suitable for 3D printing with polymers and composite materials.“