Debata Srikanta, Kherani Nomaan Alam, Panda Suvendu Kumar, Singh Dhruv Pratap
Department of Physics, IIT Bhilai, GEC Campus, Sejbahar, Raipur, Chattisgarh, 492015, India.
Department of EECS, IIT Bhilai, GEC Campus, Sejbahar, Raipur, Chattisgarh, 492015, India.
J Mater Chem B. 2022 Oct 19;10(40):8235-8243. doi: 10.1039/d2tb01367c.
The design of simple microrobotic systems with capabilities to address various applications like cargo transportation, as well as biological sample capture and manipulation in an individual unit, provides a novel route for designing advanced multifunctional microscale systems. Here, we demonstrate a facile approach to fabricate such multifunctional and fully controlled light-driven microrobots. The microrobots are titanium dioxide-silica Janus particles that are propelled in aqueous hydroquinone/benzoquinone fuel when illuminated by low-intensity UV light. The application of light provides control over the speed as well as activity of the microrobots. When modified with additional thin film coatings of nickel and gold, the microrobots exhibit the capturing and transportation of silica microparticles and bacteria. While transporting, they also show guided swimming under an external uniform magnetic field, which is interesting for deciding their moving path or the start/end positions. The fluorescent dye-based live/dead tests confirm that in the microrobot system almost no bacteria were harmed during the capturing or transportation. The simplistic design and steerable swimming with the ability to capture and transport are the important features of the microrobots. These features make them an ideal candidate for or lab-on-a-chip based studies, , drug delivery, bacterial sensing, cell treatment, , where the capturing and transport of microscopic entities play a crucial role.
设计具有多种功能的简单微型机器人系统,这些功能包括货物运输以及在单个单元中进行生物样本捕获和操作,为设计先进的多功能微型系统提供了一条新途径。在此,我们展示了一种简便的方法来制造这种多功能且完全可控的光驱动微型机器人。这些微型机器人是二氧化钛-二氧化硅双面粒子,在低强度紫外光照射下,能在对苯二酚/苯醌水性燃料中推进。光的应用可控制微型机器人的速度和活性。当用镍和金的附加薄膜涂层进行修饰时,微型机器人展现出对二氧化硅微粒和细菌的捕获与运输能力。在运输过程中,它们还能在外部均匀磁场下实现定向游动,这对于确定其移动路径或起始/终点位置很有意义。基于荧光染料的活/死测试证实,在微型机器人系统中,捕获或运输过程中几乎没有细菌受到损害。微型机器人的简单设计以及具备捕获和运输能力的可控游动是其重要特征。这些特征使其成为用于芯片实验室研究、药物递送、细菌传感、细胞治疗等的理想候选者,在这些应用中,微观实体的捕获和运输起着关键作用。