“I see the future of analytics in 3D printing” Scientists have a variety of modern analytical methods at their disposal for analysing substances and identifying unknown constituents. This includes ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). An IMS can be used to characterise charged, gaseous molecules based on their individual velocities in an electric field. Compared to other analytical methods, IMS features high sensitivity and short measuring times with a low instrumentation requirement. It detects individual analyte molecules ten billion gas molecules with a measurement duration of less than one second. Researchers at ISAS succeeded in producing a fully functional IMS using 3D printing for the first time in 2021. They published their results in the renowned journal Materials Today. In an interview, Dr Sebastian Brandt, a physicist in the Miniaturisation research group and corresponding author of the publication, answers questions about the advantages and background of the development.
Dr Sebastian Brandt showing the first IMS from the 3D printer in the lab. In 2021, the physicist and his colleagues succeeded in printing an entire IMS (ion mobility spectrometer) for the first time.
Disease mechanisms & Targets
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