Light‐Powered Microrobots: Challenges and Opportunities for Hard and Soft Responsive Microswimmers

Bunea, Ada‐Ioana; Martella, Daniele; Nocentini, Sara; Parmeggiani, Camilla; Taboryski, Rafael J.; Wiersma, Diederik S.

doi:10.1002/aisy.202170041

Cited by 25 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…With the advantages of TPL 3D printing, various microrobots with sizes ranging from hundreds of micrometer to submicron have been fabricated, [ 699–701 ] whose action can be controlled by acoustic, biohybrid, optical, magnetic, chemical, thermal, and electric methods. [ 701 ] For optical controlled ones, also called light‐powered microrobots, [ 699–702 ] the commonly used materials for TPL are liquid crystals [ 145,703 ] and poly (N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), [ 144 ] of which both can swell and shrink in response to the photothermal effect. Wiersma et al.…”

Section: Optical and Photonic Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two‐Photon Polymerization Lithography for Optics and Photonics: Fundamentals, Materials, Technologies, and Applications

Wang

Zhang

Ladika

et al. 2023

Adv Funct Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The rapid development of additive manufacturing has fueled a revolution in various research fields and industrial applications. Among the myriad of advanced three-dimensional printing techniques, two-photon polymerization lithography (TPL) uniquely offers a significant electron microscope (SEM) images of SMP structures before and after programming and after recovery, respectively. Reproduced under terms of the CC-BY license. [114] Copyright 2021, The Authors, published by Nature Publishing Group. b) Stiff SMPs for high-resolution reversible nanophotonics. I-II) The deformed and recovered nanopillars under optical microscope and SEM, respectively. Reproduced with permission. [115] Copyright 2022, American Chemical Society. c) Vapor-responsive photonic arrays. I-IV) Optical image of a grid array in air, in water vapors ~ 20 s, saturation with water vapors ~ 88s, and after the gas flow stopped, respectively.Reproduced under terms of the CC-BY license. [116] Copyright 2021, The Authors, published by Royal Society of Chemistry. d) SEM image of a 40-layer face-cantered-cubic photonic structure printed by SU-8. Reproduced with permission. [117] Copyright 2004, Nature Publishing Group. e) SEM image of helices with an axial pitch of 800 nm and a radius of 800 nm fabricated by the two-step absorption photoresist. Reproduced with permission. [118]

show abstract

Section: Optical and Photonic Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two‐Photon Polymerization Lithography for Optics and Photonics: Fundamentals, Materials, Technologies, and Applications

Wang

Zhang

Ladika

et al. 2023

Adv Funct Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[ 23,24 ] If a light‐propelled micro/nanorobot is replaced by such photocatalysts, then energy consumption can be reduced for performing photocatalytic trapping and degradation. [ 25–31 ] It is also worth noting that in addition to light‐propelled micro/nanorobots, magnetic micro/nanorobots have also played an invaluable role in soft robotics, with an emphasis on environmental and biomedical applications. [ 32–34 ]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[23,24] If a light-propelled micro/nanorobot is replaced by such photocatalysts, then energy consumption can be reduced for performing photocatalytic trapping and degradation. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] It is also worth noting that in addition to light-propelled micro/nanorobots, magnetic micro/nanorobots have also played an invaluable role in soft robotics, with an emphasis on environmental and biomedical applications. [32][33][34] Our group has developed a Pt-Pd/hematite Janus structure to fragment polymers; for example, high-molecular mass PEG was photofragmented under UV irradiation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light‐Powered Self‐Adaptive Mesostructured Microrobots for Simultaneous Microplastics Trapping and Fragmentation via in situ Surface Morphing

Ullattil

Pumera

2023

Small

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microplastics, which comprise one of the omnipresent threats to human health, are diverse in shape and composition. Their negative impacts on human and ecosystem health provide ample incentive to design and execute strategies to trap and degrade diversely structured microplastics, especially from water. This work demonstrates the fabrication of single‐component TiO2 superstructured microrobots to photo‐trap and photo‐fragment microplastics. In a single reaction, rod‐like microrobots diverse in shape and with multiple trapping sites, are fabricated to exploit the asymmetry of the microrobotic system advantageous for propulsion. The microrobots work synergistically to photo‐catalytically trap and fragment microplastics in water in a coordinated fashion. Hence, a microrobotic model of “unity in diversity” is demonstrated here for the phototrapping and photofragmentation of microplastics. During light irradiation and subsequent photocatalysis, the surface morphology of microrobots transformed into porous flower‐like networks that trap microplastics for subsequent degradation. This reconfigurable microrobotic technology represents a significant step forward in the efforts to degrade microplastics.

show abstract

“…Despite these numerous studies on various photomechanical molecular crystals with different mechanisms to date, their actuation has relied mostly on ultraviolet (UV) or blue light, [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] but not on red or near-infrared (NIR) light. The molecular crystals that perform mechanical motion over a wide range of wavelengths from UV to visible and NIR are expected to expand the application range of photomechanical crystals to other biomedical fields such as implantable devices, [26,27] mobile microrobots, [28][29][30] and bioinspired engineering. [31] To develop such broad-wavelength light-driven molecular crystals, new strategies and perspectives that deviate from conventional molecular designs are required.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broad‐Wavelength Light‐Driven High‐Speed Hybrid Crystal Actuators Actuated Inside Tissue‐Like Phantoms

Kim

Hagiwara

Hasebe

et al. 2023

Adv Funct Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research on molecular crystals exhibiting light‐driven actuation has made remarkable progress through the development of various molecules and the identification of driving mechanisms. However, crystals developed to date have been driven mainly by ultraviolet (UV) or blue light irradiation, and driving by red or near‐infrared (NIR) light has not been attempted yet. Herein, a broad‐wavelength light‐driven molecular crystals that exhibit high‐speed bending by photothermal effect is developed. Titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx) MXene nanosheets are integrated into salicylideneaniline crystals to extend the wavelength range that causes photothermally driven bending to UV, visible, and NIR light. In addition, unlike the thin pristine molecular crystals that show slow photoisomerization‐induced bending only under UV light, the MXene layer enables the molecular crystals to be actuated rapidly regardless of their thickness over a wide range of wavelengths. The hybridization of molecular crystals with MXene, which exhibits strong biocompatibility as well as NIR light‐driven photothermal effect, allows for the bending of the hybrid crystals inside agar phantoms mimicking biological tissue. Last, it is confirmed that MXene hybridization can be extended to common molecular crystals including various salicylideneaniline and anisole derivatives.

show abstract

Light‐Powered Microrobots: Challenges and Opportunities for Hard and Soft Responsive Microswimmers

Cited by 25 publications

References 60 publications

Two‐Photon Polymerization Lithography for Optics and Photonics: Fundamentals, Materials, Technologies, and Applications

Two‐Photon Polymerization Lithography for Optics and Photonics: Fundamentals, Materials, Technologies, and Applications

Light‐Powered Self‐Adaptive Mesostructured Microrobots for Simultaneous Microplastics Trapping and Fragmentation via in situ Surface Morphing

Broad‐Wavelength Light‐Driven High‐Speed Hybrid Crystal Actuators Actuated Inside Tissue‐Like Phantoms

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About