Cargo Transportation and Methylene Blue Degradation by Using Fuel‐Powered Micromotors

Abstract

In the past two decades, micromotors have experienced rapid development, especially in environmental remediation, the biomedical field, and in cargo delivery. In this study micromotors have been synthesized from a variety of materials. Different functional layers and catalytic layers are formed through template electrodeposition (the bottom‐up method). At the same time, the article analyzes the influence of hydrogen peroxide concentration, surfactant type and concentration on the speed of the micromotors. Cargo transportation through tubular micromotors has always been a problem that people are eager to solve. In this article, we electrodeposit a layer of Ni in the microtubes, which effectively guides the microtubular motors to complete the cargo transportation. The potential applications of micromotors are also being explored. We added the prepared micromotors to the methylene blue solution to effectively enhance the degradation.

2D Active Nanobots Based on Soft Nanoarchitectonics Powered by an Ultralow Fuel Concentration

“…Recently, 3D micromotors have been fabricated for MB dye degradation with an efficiency of around 75 %, however, they used complex technology that required a high H 2 O 2 concentration (5-7.5 %) as fuel and detergent to facilitate propulsion. [41][42][43] In contrast, our 2D nanobots had an upper limit of 85 % MB dye removal efficiency, a 25-fold reduction in fuel concentration, and do not require any detergent, showing great potential in practical applications with ultra-low fuel concentrations.…”

Frontispiece: 2D Active Nanobots Based on Soft Nanoarchitectonics Powered by an Ultralow Fuel Concentration

“…Recently, even 3D micromotors have been fabricated for MB dye degradation with an efficiency of around 75 %, however, they used complex technology that required a high H 2 O 2 concentration (5-7.5 %) as fuel and detergent to facilitate propulsion. [41][42][43] In contrast, our 2D nanobots had an upper limit of 85 % MB dye removal efficiency, a 25-fold reduction in fuel concentration, and do not require any detergent, showing great potential in practical applications with ultra-low fuel concentrations.…”

Micro-/nanoscale robotics for chemical and biological sensing

“…In their bid to create a cargo-delivering micromotor that could be propelled using magnetism as well as a chemical fuel, Li and coauthors used electrodeposition with a membrane template as their fabrication method of choice. 58 Their method first begins with sputtering a gold film on one side of the polycarbonate membrane to serve as a working electrode followed by deposition of an external polyaniline layer. A layer of nickel was continuously deposited in the tube as well as the internal platinum catalytic layer.…”