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

As visible light accounts for a larger proportion of solar energy and is harmless to living organisms, it has the potential to be the energy source of micro/nanomotors, which transform visible-light energy into mechanical motion, for different applications, especially in environmental remediation. H...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zhou, Dekai, Zhuang, Rencheng, Chang, Xiaocong, Li, Longqiu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AAAS 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7521028/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33029591
http://dx.doi.org/10.34133/2020/6821595
Descripción
Sumario:As visible light accounts for a larger proportion of solar energy and is harmless to living organisms, it has the potential to be the energy source of micro/nanomotors, which transform visible-light energy into mechanical motion, for different applications, especially in environmental remediation. However, how to precisely control the motion of visible-light-driven micro/nanomotors (VLD-MNMs) and efficiently utilize the weak visible-light photon energy to acquire rapid motion are significant challenges. This review summarizes the most critical aspects, involving photoactive materials, propulsion mechanisms, control methods, and applications of VLD-MNMs, and discusses strategies to systematically enhance the energy-harvesting efficiency and adaptation. At first, the photoactive materials have been divided into inorganic and organic photoactive materials and comprehensively discussed. Then, different propulsion mechanisms of the current VLD-MNMs are presented to explain the improvement in the actuation force, speed, and environmental adaptability. In addition, considering the characteristics of easy control of VLD-MNMs, we summarized the direction, speed, and cluster control methods of VLD-MNMs for different application requirements. Subsequently, the potential applications of VLD-MNMs, e.g., in environmental remediation, micropumps, cargo delivery, and sensing in microscale, are presented. Finally, discussions and suggestions for future directions to enhance the energy-harvesting efficiency and adaptation of VLD-MNMs are provided.