Fabrication and swimming properties of micro‐machine coated with magnetite prepared by ferrite plating

摘要

Abstract By the sterolithography technique and the ferrite plating, we have fabricated a magnetic micro‐machine which coated Fe 3 O 4 . The sterolithography technique enables to form the spiral‐shape resinous templates and the ferrite plating enables to coat Fe 3 O 4 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 have verified that the machines swim freely and wirelessly in water by applying a rotational magnetic field. As the machine coated with Fe 3 O 4 has a biocompatibility, there is a possibility of medical micro‐robots which swim in human body for medical operations. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)