Zhou Chang, Wu Yingjie, Si Tieyan, Zhu Kangning, Yang Mingcheng, He Qiang
School of Medicine and Health, Harbin Institute of Technology, XiDaZhi Street 92, Harbin, 150001, China.
Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jinlian Street, Wenzhou, 325000, China.
Soft Matter. 2025 Jan 29;21(5):982-988. doi: 10.1039/d4sm01294a.
Enzyme-powered synthetic colloidal motors hold promising potential for medical applications because of their unique features such as self-propulsion, sub-micrometer size, fuel bioavailability, and structural and functional versatility. However, the key parameters influencing the propulsion efficiency of enzyme-powered colloidal motors still remain unclear. Here, we report the effect of the neck length of urease-powered pentosan flask-like colloidal motors on their kinematic behavior resembling the role of bacterial flagella. The sub-micrometer-sized and streamlined pentosan flask-like colloidal motors with variable neck lengths are synthesized through a facile interfacial dynamic assembly and polymerization strategy. The urease molecules are loaded through vacuum infusion technology and thus the urease-triggered catalytic reaction can propel the pentosan flask-like colloidal motors to move autonomously in the urea solution. The self-propelled speed of these pentosan flask-like colloidal motors significantly increases with the elongating neck lengths. The mechanism of the relationship between the neck length and self-propelled motion is that a longer neck can provide a larger self-propelled force due to the larger force area and stabilize the rotation because of the increased rotational friction. This research can provide guidance for the design of biomedical colloidal motors.
酶驱动的合成胶体马达因其自推进、亚微米尺寸、燃料生物可利用性以及结构和功能多样性等独特特性，在医学应用中具有广阔的潜力。然而，影响酶驱动胶体马达推进效率的关键参数仍不清楚。在此，我们报道了脲酶驱动的戊聚糖烧瓶状胶体马达的颈部长度对其类似细菌鞭毛作用的运动行为的影响。通过简便的界面动态组装和聚合策略合成了具有可变颈部长度的亚微米尺寸且流线型的戊聚糖烧瓶状胶体马达。脲酶分子通过真空灌注技术加载，因此脲酶引发的催化反应可推动戊聚糖烧瓶状胶体马达在尿素溶液中自主移动。这些戊聚糖烧瓶状胶体马达的自推进速度随着颈部长度的延长而显著增加。颈部长度与自推进运动之间关系的机制是，较长的颈部由于力的作用面积较大可提供更大的自推进力，并且由于旋转摩擦力增加而使旋转更加稳定。该研究可为生物医学胶体马达的设计提供指导。
