Medical devices requiring customized metallic structures could also be manufactured using the pen

It could be used to create flexible, wearable electronics

The pen can generate metallic objects seemingly out of nowhere

, is solidified by a laser as it pours

The ink, made up of silver

Researchers at Harvard University have created a 3D-printing pen capable of making metallic objects seemingly out of nowhere.

The pen, unveiled earlier this month by Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, doesn't need any support to function, unlike traditional 3D printers.

Instead, it uses an ink made up of nano silver particles, which is solidified by a laser as it pours out of the pen.

This makes it possible to use the pen to create metallic objects with complex, curved shapes - which could lead to new advances in the world of wearable electronics.

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The pen (pictured generating metallic hoops), unveiled earlier this month by Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, doesn't need any support to function, unlike traditional 3D printers

It can be used to create metallic objects with complex, curved shapes - such as these butterflies made out of silver wires as thin as a hair

The pen's metallic ink travels through a printing nozzle and is met by the heat of a laser as it oozes out.

The energy emitted by the laser solidifies the ink, enabling the user to create an object by moving the pen in the air.

The pen makes it possible to generate complex, curved shapes in just a few seconds.

A video published by the Wyss Institute shows how the pen can be used to create a series of butterflies made of silver wires as thin as a hair.

The biggest challenge in creating the pen was finding the right distance between the nozzle and the laser.

If the laser is too close to the nozzle, the heat goes upstream, clogging the nozzle with solidified ink, Wyss Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Mark Skylar-Scott said.

The team studied heat transfer and temperature distribution along a silver wire, optimizing the distance between the laser and the nozzle.

The researchers invented the pen as a response to the increasing demand for flexible, wearable electronics.

The pen could also be used to create medical devices, which require customized metallic parts.