Física Teórica, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo. 1065, E-41080 Sevilla, Spain.
International Centre of Biodynamics, 1B Intrarea Portocalelor, 060101 Bucharest, Romania.
Biosensors (Basel). 2022 Dec 28;13(1):45. doi: 10.3390/bios13010045.
Catalytic micromotors can be used to detect molecules of interest in several ways. The straightforward approach is to use such motors as sensors of their "fuel" (i.e., of the species consumed for self-propulsion). Another way is in the detection of species which are not fuel but still modulate the catalytic processes facilitating self-propulsion. Both of these require analysis of the motion of the micromotors because the speed (or the diffusion coefficient) of the micromotors is the analytical signal. Alternatively, catalytic micromotors can be used as the means to enhance mass transport, and thus increase the probability of specific recognition events in the sample. This latter approach is based on "classic" (e.g., electrochemical) analytical signals and does not require an analysis of the motion of the micromotors. Together with a discussion of the current limitations faced by sensing concepts based on the speed (or diffusion coefficient) of catalytic micromotors, we review the findings of the studies devoted to the analytical performances of catalytic micromotor sensors. We conclude that the qualitative (rather than quantitative) analysis of small samples, in resource poor environments, is the most promising niche for the catalytic micromotors in analytical chemistry.
催化微马达可以通过多种方式用于检测感兴趣的分子。一种直接的方法是将这些马达用作它们的“燃料”（即用于自推进的物种）的传感器。另一种方法是检测不是燃料但仍调节促进自推进的催化过程的物种。这两种方法都需要分析微马达的运动，因为微马达的速度（或扩散系数）是分析信号。或者，催化微马达可用作增强质量传输的手段，从而增加样品中特定识别事件的概率。后一种方法基于“经典”（例如电化学）分析信号，并且不需要分析微马达的运动。在讨论了基于催化微马达速度（或扩散系数）的传感概念所面临的当前限制之后，我们回顾了致力于催化微马达传感器分析性能的研究结果。我们得出的结论是，在资源匮乏的环境中对小样本进行定性（而不是定量）分析是催化微马达在分析化学中最有前途的应用领域。
