Self‐Propelled Micro/Nanomotors for On‐Demand Biomedical Cargo Transportation

Micro/nanomotors (MNMs) are miniaturized machines that can perform assigned tasks at the micro/nanoscale. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in the design, preparation, and applications of MNMs that are powered by converting different sources of energy into mechanical force, to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2020-07, Vol.16 (27), p.e1902464-n/a
Main Authors: Xu, Dandan, Wang, Yong, Liang, Chunyan, You, Yongqiang, Sanchez, Samuel, Ma, Xing
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
biomedical applications
Biomedical materials
Cargo transportation
Controllability
Demand
guidance strategies
Humans
micro/nanomotors
Micromotors
Nanostructures
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology - trends
Nanotechnology devices
self‐propulsion
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Summary:Micro/nanomotors (MNMs) are miniaturized machines that can perform assigned tasks at the micro/nanoscale. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in the design, preparation, and applications of MNMs that are powered by converting different sources of energy into mechanical force, to realize active movement and fulfill on‐demand tasks. MNMs can be navigated to desired locations with precise controllability based on different guidance mechanisms. A considerable research effort has gone into demonstrating that MNMs possess the potential of biomedical cargo loading, transportation, and targeted release to achieve therapeutic functions. Herein, the recent advances of self‐propelled MNMs for on‐demand biomedical cargo transportation, including their self‐propulsion mechanisms, guidance strategies, as well as proof‐of‐concept studies for biological applications are presented. In addition, some of the major challenges and possible opportunities of MNMs are identified for future biomedical applications in the hope that it may inspire future research. Research on the design and fabrication of micro/nanomotors for active cargo delivery has attracted significant attention, which integrates intrinsic properties of nanomaterials, controllable active movement of micro/nanomotors, to fulfill assigned tasks. Recent progress in self‐propulsion mechanisms, guidance strategies, and proof‐of‐concept applications of micro/nanomotors in biomedical cargo transportation is comprehensively summarized and reviewed.
ISSN:1613-6810
1613-6829
DOI:10.1002/smll.201902464