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Reconfigurable self-assembly of photocatalytic magnetic microrobots for water purification
The development of artificial small-scale robotic swarms with nature-mimicking collective behaviors represents the frontier of research in robotics. While microrobot swarming under magnetic manipulation has been extensively explored, light-induced self-organization of micro- and nanorobots is still...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Nature Publishing Group UK
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10620202/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37914692 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42674-9 |
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author | Urso, Mario Ussia, Martina Peng, Xia Oral, Cagatay M. Pumera, Martin |
author_facet | Urso, Mario Ussia, Martina Peng, Xia Oral, Cagatay M. Pumera, Martin |
author_sort | Urso, Mario |
collection | PubMed |
description | The development of artificial small-scale robotic swarms with nature-mimicking collective behaviors represents the frontier of research in robotics. While microrobot swarming under magnetic manipulation has been extensively explored, light-induced self-organization of micro- and nanorobots is still challenging. This study demonstrates the interaction-controlled, reconfigurable, reversible, and active self-assembly of TiO(2)/α-Fe(2)O(3) microrobots, consisting of peanut-shaped α-Fe(2)O(3) (hematite) microparticles synthesized by a hydrothermal method and covered with a thin layer of TiO(2) by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Due to their photocatalytic and ferromagnetic properties, microrobots autonomously move in water under light irradiation, while a magnetic field precisely controls their direction. In the presence of H(2)O(2) fuel, concentration gradients around the illuminated microrobots result in mutual attraction by phoretic interactions, inducing their spontaneous organization into self-propelled clusters. In the dark, clusters reversibly reconfigure into microchains where microrobots are aligned due to magnetic dipole-dipole interactions. Microrobots’ active motion and photocatalytic properties were investigated for water remediation from pesticides, obtaining the rapid degradation of the extensively used, persistent, and hazardous herbicide 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4D). This study potentially impacts the realization of future intelligent adaptive metamachines and the application of light-powered self-propelled micro- and nanomotors toward the degradation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) or micro- and nanoplastics. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10620202 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-106202022023-11-03 Reconfigurable self-assembly of photocatalytic magnetic microrobots for water purification Urso, Mario Ussia, Martina Peng, Xia Oral, Cagatay M. Pumera, Martin Nat Commun Article The development of artificial small-scale robotic swarms with nature-mimicking collective behaviors represents the frontier of research in robotics. While microrobot swarming under magnetic manipulation has been extensively explored, light-induced self-organization of micro- and nanorobots is still challenging. This study demonstrates the interaction-controlled, reconfigurable, reversible, and active self-assembly of TiO(2)/α-Fe(2)O(3) microrobots, consisting of peanut-shaped α-Fe(2)O(3) (hematite) microparticles synthesized by a hydrothermal method and covered with a thin layer of TiO(2) by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Due to their photocatalytic and ferromagnetic properties, microrobots autonomously move in water under light irradiation, while a magnetic field precisely controls their direction. In the presence of H(2)O(2) fuel, concentration gradients around the illuminated microrobots result in mutual attraction by phoretic interactions, inducing their spontaneous organization into self-propelled clusters. In the dark, clusters reversibly reconfigure into microchains where microrobots are aligned due to magnetic dipole-dipole interactions. Microrobots’ active motion and photocatalytic properties were investigated for water remediation from pesticides, obtaining the rapid degradation of the extensively used, persistent, and hazardous herbicide 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4D). This study potentially impacts the realization of future intelligent adaptive metamachines and the application of light-powered self-propelled micro- and nanomotors toward the degradation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) or micro- and nanoplastics. Nature Publishing Group UK 2023-11-01 /pmc/articles/PMC10620202/ /pubmed/37914692 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42674-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Article Urso, Mario Ussia, Martina Peng, Xia Oral, Cagatay M. Pumera, Martin Reconfigurable self-assembly of photocatalytic magnetic microrobots for water purification |
title | Reconfigurable self-assembly of photocatalytic magnetic microrobots for water purification |
title_full | Reconfigurable self-assembly of photocatalytic magnetic microrobots for water purification |
title_fullStr | Reconfigurable self-assembly of photocatalytic magnetic microrobots for water purification |
title_full_unstemmed | Reconfigurable self-assembly of photocatalytic magnetic microrobots for water purification |
title_short | Reconfigurable self-assembly of photocatalytic magnetic microrobots for water purification |
title_sort | reconfigurable self-assembly of photocatalytic magnetic microrobots for water purification |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10620202/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37914692 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42674-9 |
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