Orthogonal navigation of multiple visible-light-driven artificial microswimmers

Nano/microswimmers represent the persistent endeavors of generations of scientists towards the ultimate tiny machinery for device manufacturing, targeted drug delivery, and noninvasive surgery. In many of these envisioned applications, multiple microswimmers need to be controlled independently and w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2017-11, Vol.8 (1), p.1438-7, Article 1438
Main Authors: Zheng, Jing, Dai, Baohu, Wang, Jizhuang, Xiong, Ze, Yang, Ya, Liu, Jun, Zhan, Xiaojun, Wan, Zhihan, Tang, Jinyao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/923/916
639/925/357/339
639/925/927
Actuation
Controllability
Drug delivery
Drug delivery systems
Dyes
Group dynamics
Humanities and Social Sciences
Machinery and equipment
Magnetic fields
multidisciplinary
Nanowires
Navigation
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Silicon
Spectral sensitivity
Stability
Surgery
Swimming
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Summary:Nano/microswimmers represent the persistent endeavors of generations of scientists towards the ultimate tiny machinery for device manufacturing, targeted drug delivery, and noninvasive surgery. In many of these envisioned applications, multiple microswimmers need to be controlled independently and work cooperatively to perform a complex task. However, this multiple channel actuation remains a challenge as the controlling signal, usually a magnetic or electric field, is applied globally over all microswimmers, which makes it difficult to decouple the responses of multiple microswimmers. Here, we demonstrate that a photoelectrochemically driven nanotree microswimmer can be easily coded with a distinct spectral response by loading it with dyes. By using different dyes, an individual microswimmer can be controlled and navigated independently of other microswimmers in a group. This development demonstrates the excellent flexibility of the light navigation method and paves the way for the development of more functional nanobots for applications that require high-level controllability. The ability to direct microwimmers along a particular trajectory is advantageous for targeted drug delivery and manufacturing at the microscale. Here Zheng et al. use different types of light-absorbing dyes to enable selective activation of different microswimmers independently from each other.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-017-01778-9