Now, a transportation technology for ultra-small cargoes

Washington, February 19 : Japanese researchers have developed a new transportation technology for moving ultra-small cargoes in the coming generation of micromachines and laboratories-on-a-chip.

Kenichi Yoshikawa of Kyoto University says that the study describes successful delivery of a simulated microcargo of paper with chemical waves produced by a reaction that has fascinated scientists and students for about half a century.

Scientifically, this reaction is called the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. It produces a continuing series of waves in a water solution.

The new study describes the first use of such waves to move objects in a directed and controlled fashion.

"They can be used for the transport of material objects through a desired delivery route," the study report says.

"The combination of carrying and controlling waves with the proper timing of initiation allows us, in principle, to deliver freight over a chosen path, with the ability to switch the path if desired," the report adds.

The report is scheduled for publication in the March 6 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry in March.

ANI