Characterizing the Swimming Properties of Artificial Bacterial Flagella

Artificial bacterial flagella (ABFs) consist of helical tails resembling natural flagella fabricated by the self-scrolling of helical nanobelts and soft-magnetic heads composed of Cr/Ni/Au stacked thin films. ABFs are controlled wirelessly using a low-strength rotating magnetic field. Self-propelled...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2009-10, Vol.9 (10), p.3663-3667
Main Authors: Zhang, Li, Abbott, Jake J, Dong, Lixin, Peyer, Kathrin E, Kratochvil, Bradley E, Zhang, Haixin, Bergeles, Christos, Nelson, Bradley J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Biotechnology
Chromium - chemistry
Flagella - chemistry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gold - chemistry
Magnetics
Methods. Procedures. Technologies
Models, Biological
Nickel - chemistry
Others
Surface Properties
Swimming
Various methods and equipments
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Summary:Artificial bacterial flagella (ABFs) consist of helical tails resembling natural flagella fabricated by the self-scrolling of helical nanobelts and soft-magnetic heads composed of Cr/Ni/Au stacked thin films. ABFs are controlled wirelessly using a low-strength rotating magnetic field. Self-propelled devices such as these are of interest for in vitro and in vivo biomedical applications. Swimming tests of ABFs show a linear relationship between the frequency of the applied field and the translational velocity when the frequency is lower than the step-out frequency of the ABF. Moreover, the influences of head size on swimming velocity and the lateral drift of an ABF near a solid boundary are investigated. An experimental method to estimate the propulsion matrix of a helical swimmer under a light microscope is developed. Finally, swarm-like behavior of multiple ABFs controlled as a single entity is demonstrated.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/nl901869j