AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB026180155
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Magnetically programmable 3D printing of liquid metal robots for targeted therapy

Weichen Feng1† Xiaohui Shan1† Minghui Guo2 Bo Wang3 Xiyu Zhu4 Bo Yuan5 Jianye Gao2* Jing Liu1,2*
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1 Medical Microsystems Laboratory, School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Cryogenic Science and Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Cryobiomedicine, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
3 Center of Double Helix, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, China
4 Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, SINOPEC, Beijing, China
5 Department of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation, School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing, China
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
Received: 28 April 2026 | Revised: 21 May 2026 | Accepted: 25 May 2026 | Published online: 25 May 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Magnetic liquid metal soft robots hold promise for minimally invasive interventions in complex in vivo environments, yet their fabrication challenges must simultaneously achieve structural customization, spatial magnetic programming, and rapid conductive network construction. Here, we present a magnetic-field-assisted 3D printing strategy to fabricate soft robots with programmable magnetic domains and magnetothermal therapeutic capabilities. Using acid-assisted de-oxidation and silver (Ag)-coated neodymium–iron–boron (NdFeB) particles to enhance wetting, we prepared magnetic liquid metals that exhibit magnetic-field-induced coalescence and achieved an order-of-magnitude increase in electrical conductivity. Furthermore, a geometry-dependent model based on eddy-current losses revealed that printed paths significantly improve heating efficiency under alternating magnetic fields. Leveraging a locally oriented magnetic field during printing, we encoded spatially resolved hard-magnetic domains, yielding predictable 3D deformation and multiple gaits, including grasping, crawling, and rolling. Finally, we demonstrated localized magnetothermal heating in ex vivo porcine colon tissues, validated by thermal measurements and finite-element simulations. This study offers a manufacturable, programmable, and scalable liquid metal additive manufacturing platform for personalized magnetically driven magnetothermal therapy in complex biological environments.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Liquid metals
Soft robots
Magnetically programmable 3D printing
Magnetothermal therapy
Funding
The work is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 52506093, no. 52203360) and the Tsinghua IDG/McGovern “Brain+X” Seed Grant Doctoral and Postdoctoral Program.
Conflict of interest
Xiyu Zhu is an employee of SINOPEC but was not involved in any activities that could constitute a conflict of interest in relation to this study. All other authors declare no competing interests.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing