Video: 3-D Printing Customized Chemistry Labware to Replace the Common Beaker
Printing Custom Labware in 3-D With baked-in catalysts The latest game being changed by 3-D printing: chemistry. A researcher at the University of Glasgow, frustrated with the inability to modify standardized labware to fit the requirements of his experiments, has created a new breed of easily customizable laboratory containers that can be printed in silicone-based bathroom sealant. The problem: chemistry is a diverse and changing field, but the tools used to execute it are more or less fixed. Conventional flasks, beakers, and reaction chambers are the norm in the chemistry lab, so when a chemist wishes to create a highly nuanced experiment he or she has to build something from a pre-defined universe of tools--tools that often don't get the job done. So Leroy Cronin, the U. of Glasgow researcher, began looking for a better way. By teaming up with Turlif Vilbrandt, co-founder of a 3-D printing software designer in Norway, he...