Light-Activated Fuel-Free Janus Metal Organic Framework Colloidal Motors for the Removal of Heavy Metal Ions

Abstract

Light-powered fuel-free colloidal motors possess significant potential for practical applications ranging from nanomedicine to environmental remediation. However, current lightpowered colloidal motors often require the incorporation of expensive metals or high concentrations of toxic chemical fuels, which is a severe limitation for their practical applications. Integrating highly ordered and porous materials with a large surface area into colloidal motors is a promising strategy for upsurging their self-propelled speed and adsorption, which will benefit many applications. Here, highly efficient, fuel-free, and light-activated metal organic framework (MOF)-3trimethoxysilyl propyl methacrylate Janus colloidal motors with a hierarchical morphology are reported. These colloidal motors can be driven by UV or visible light, with a self-propelled speed tuned by the light intensity. The speed can be further enhanced by morphology optimization or by the addition of H 2 O 2 as a fuel. The colloidal motors display a superior efficiency in removing heavy metal ions of Hg, which is up to ∼90% within 40 min from the contaminated water, attributed to their high surface area, hierarchical morphology, large number of active sites, and high mobility. This work not only offers a facile approach to incorporate a versatile MOF family into the design of fuel-free and light-powered Janus colloidal motors, but also demonstrates their potential for real-life applications such as environmental remediation.

Synthesis of Rod-Shaped ZnO/Polysiloxane Micromotors with Patch-Dependent Motion Modes

“…Moreover, the decrease in peak height varied with patch numbers, and the best degradation effect was obtained from the S2 patchy micromotors. This is reasonable since the S2 patchy micromotors exhibit the fast translational and rotational motions (Figure ), and fast motions are believed to facilitate dye degradations. , In addition, the S1 and S3 patchy micromotors experience linear motions, which cause them to migrate to the walls of the sample containers. , Hence, the micromotors concentrate on the container walls and the number of micromotors in the dye solution decreases. As a result, both the S1 and S3 patchy micromotors show poor performance of the dye degradation, although their speeds are different.…”

“…This is reasonable since the S2 patchy micromotors exhibit the fast translational and rotational motions (Figure 5), and fast motions are believed to facilitate dye degradations. 20,36 In addition, the S1 and S3 patchy micromotors experience linear motions, which cause them to migrate to the walls of the sample containers. 37,38 Hence, the micromotors concentrate on the container walls and the number of micromotors in the dye solution decreases.…”

Asymmetric colloidal motors: from dissymmetric nanoarchitectural fabrication to efficient propulsion strategy

“…11,12 Research on JCMs has been growing rapidly in the last decade, and their various preparation methods and mechanisms have been explored. For example, in order to meet different needs, various shapes of JCM such as spherical, 13,14 tube, 15 rod, 16 bottle, 17 snowman, 18 etc. have been developed and researched.…”

Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Copolymeric Colloids as Multicolor Emission, Fuel‐Free, UV‐ and Visible‐Light‐Actuated Micropumps

“…We anticipate that breaking the symmetry of these photocatalytic colloids can lead to new opportunities in the design of self-propelled micromotors or microrobots. [46][47][48][49]…”