Print Your Own Labware, Catalysts Included

scibri writes "Chemists have found a way to make reaction vessels perfectly suited to their needs, with 3D printers. From the article: 'Armed with a three-dimensional printer and the type of silicone-based sealant typically used for bathrooms, researchers have demonstrated a novel way to control chemical reactions ... One vessel was printed with catalyst-laced "ink," enabling the container walls to drive chemical reactions. 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.'"

Re:Paywalls

[GameboyRMH]

In what kind of dream world do these pushlishing groups live in?

Academia. They charge that much because the universities have the money because they charge a lot because student loans have the money.

Nice...but not hard to imagine.

[TheCarp]

Actually, about a week ago I was looking at some 3d printer porn (waiting for my reprap kit to arrive)..and saw mention of how objects can be printed that couldn't really be built other ways...solid pieces with internal cavity walls etc....

the first thing I thought of was, in fact, vessels with very high internal surface areas (possibly even textured to provide even more surface area) which could be used for catalyst reactions or even for brewing (I believe there has been some experimental work in brewing using a vessel like this where yeast was in some way integrated into the internal surfaces.

This is a very neat area of research.

Re:Paywalls

[robthebloke]

I remember a few years ago, I started getting really annoyed that every new computer graphics paper, was simply a 20 year old paper appended with "on the GPU!". Those kind of papers never struck me as research, they always seemed more akin to an army of people screeching "the GPU is faster than the CPU for graphics!", which should be bloody obvious.....

It would now appear that the current fashion is to write papers about inanimate objects, and append "made on a 3d printer" to the title. At least this paper has some element of novel thinking to it, i.e. replace colour pigments with chemicals you want to react, but I don't think that makes it worth paying $32 for.....

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[Bowling Moses]

"...the universities have the money..."

Damn it you made me laugh so hard I nearly pissed myself.

Seriously though American universities are falling apart, salaries low, temporary and part-time positions (full time responsibilities for half pay! Yay!) are ever increasingly common, buildings in dire need of replacement, over $25 billion in deferred maintenance (ever have a ceiling cave in on you? I have. Not fun.), and university libraries everywhere have been slashing their journal subscriptions for years because they cost too much. Public funding of American universities has been slashed repeatedly over the last 30 years. A state university used to get 80% of its funds from the state. Now a state university usually gets around 20%, but some get single-digit support making them private schools in all but name. This is the cause of sky high tuition. Every time a state slashes university funding, tuition increases.