Biomimetic submicromotor with NIR light triggered motion and cargo release inspired by cuttlefish

Abstract

Biomimetic design is very helpful and significant for the smart construction of micro/nanomotors with artificial intelligence. In this work, inspired by cuttlefish, who can rapidly eject poisonous ink and are also capable of fast movement to escape, we designed and fabricated a biomimetic submicromotor with the ability of simultaneous quick movement and a temperature threshold caused explosive cargo release triggered by near infra-red (NIR) light irradiation, which was approximately equivalent to the action of cuttlefish when encountering a predator. The yolk@shell structured polydopamine@mesoporous silica (PDA@MS₆₀) with immovable and asymmetric yolk distribution was employed as a platform, and this was followed by the simultaneous encapsulation of phase change materials (PCM) and cargo molecules. The NIR light irradiation could not only propel the direct motion of the submicromotor, but also caused the explosive release of the cargo loaded in the submicromotor when the temperature exceeded the melting point of the PCM.