Issue 45, 2018

A phototactic liquid micromotor

Abstract

In recent years, micromotors, which possess unique autonomous moving properties inside a solution, have shown great potential in a variety of applications ranging from environmental remediation to the biomedical field. However, most of the micromotors are based on solid materials. In this paper, we report a liquid (water, serum or urine) micromotor, which exhibits self-propelling behavior in an oil solution upon white light irradiation. Interestingly, the liquid micromotor exhibits both positive and negative phototaxis, which relies on the photochromism of the surrounding spiropyran molecules dissolved in oil or the thermal effect, respectively. In addition, light shows great versatility in controlling the motion behavior of the liquid micromotor so that it can move in a desired fashion. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that the liquid-based micromotor has great advantages over the solid ones. It not only enables fusion and reaction between different reactant-loaded liquid micromotors based on the combined positive and negative phototaxis, but also allows controlled cargo capture and transportation. We thus believe the liquid micromotor reported in the current study may have potential applications in various fields such as glucose detection.

Graphical abstract: A phototactic liquid micromotor

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 авг 2018
Accepted
10 окт 2018
First published
15 окт 2018

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018,6, 12234-12239

A phototactic liquid micromotor

D. Zhang, Y. Sun, M. Li, H. Zhang, B. Song and B. Dong, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018, 6, 12234 DOI: 10.1039/C8TC04260H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements