Magnetic micromachines prepared by ferrite plating technique

Abstract

By the sterolithography technique and the ferrite plating, we fabricated three types of magnetic micromachines which coated Fe3O4, Co0.39Fe2.61O4, and Co0.45Fe2.55O4, respectively. The stereolithography technique enables one to form the spiral-shape resinous templates and the ferrite plating enables one to coat the ferrites uniformly onto these templates from an aqueous solution. The total machine weight is light because a resin of the template body is almost the same density as water. We verified that the machines swim freely and wirelessly in water by applying a rotational magnetic field. As these machines coated with ferrites have the biocompatibility, there is the possibility of medical microrobots which swim in the human body for medical operations.