Visible‐Light‐Driven Janus Microvehicles in Biological Media

Abstract

Alight-driven multifunctional Janus micromotor for the removal of bacterial endotoxins and heavy metals is described. The micromotor was assembled by using the biocompatible polymer polycaprolactone for the encapsulation of CdTeo rC dSe@ZnS quantum dots (QDs) as photoactive materials and an asymmetric Fe 3 O 4 patch for propulsion. The micromotors can be activated with visible light (470-490 nm) to propel in peroxide or glucose media by adiffusiophoretic mechanism. Efficient propulsion was observed for the first time in complex samples such as human blood serum. These properties were exploited for efficient endotoxinremoval using lipopolysaccharides from Escherichia coli O111:B4 as am odel toxin. The micromotors were also used for mercury removal by cationic exchange with the CdSe@ZnS core-shell QDs.C ytotoxicity assays in HeLa cell lines demonstrated the high biocompatibility of the micromotors for future detoxification applications.Supportinginformation and the ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under: https://doi.

Enhanced Light-Harvesting Efficiency and Adaptation: A Review on Visible-Light-Driven Micro/Nanomotors

“…Therefore, researchers have tried different methods to improve the absorption ability and photocatalytic efficiency of VLD-MNM materials. [80] 0.1 1.23 1.33…”

“…The CdS quantum dots modified with polypropylenimine tetrahexacontaamine dendrimer generation 5 for the incorporation of fluorescence CdS, as shown in Figure 12(d) . Inspired by this strategy, Pacheco et al reported a visible-light-driven CdTe-Fe 3 O 4 Janus micromotor, which can be used for heavy metal removal and sensing [ 80 ]. The photoresponsive CdTe quantum dots can interact with Hg 2+ , resulting in the cation exchange of Cd 2+ to HgTe.…”

Light-driven carbon nitride microswimmers with propulsion in biological and ionic media and responsive on-demand drug delivery

“…2 g/L, ~10 mM), and trace amounts of vitamins and glucose (4.5 g/L, ~25 mM), some of which can be used as reducing agents and, hence, hole extraction fuel to power light-driven microswimmers. 53 Under illumination, the mean speed of the microswimmers in dPBS was 19.0 ± 3.3 µm/s (21% slower than in DI water) and 23.7 ± 2.6 µm/s in DMEM (comparable to DI water), as seen in Figure 2a. The ions present in dPBS (~150 mM) hence only have a relatively small influence on the speed of PHI, whereas the additional components in DMEM do not hamper the efficiency of photocatalytic reactions being responsible for the propulsion (Movie S2).…”

Janus particles and motors: unrivaled devices for mastering (bio)sensing

“…For example, a PCL micromotor encapsulating magnetic nanoparticles and biocompatible QDs can move in serum and blood for the detection of heavy metals and toxins. Biocompatibility assays revealed the full compatibility with the fluids, and the micromotor can be degraded using natural lipases [ 32 ].…”