Volume 227, 2021

Autoperforation of two-dimensional materials to generate colloidal state machines capable of locomotion

Abstract

A central ambition of the robotics field has been to increasingly miniaturize such systems, with perhaps the ultimate achievement being the synthetic microbe or cell sized machine. To this end, we have introduced and demonstrated prototypes of what we call colloidal state machines (CSMs) as particulate devices capable of integrating sensing, memory, and energy harvesting as well as other functions onto a single particle. One technique that we have introduced for creating CSMs based on 2D materials such as graphene or monolayer MoS2 is “autoperforation”, where the nanometer-scale film is fractured around a designed strain field to produce structured particles upon liftoff. While CSMs have been demonstrated with functions such as memory, sensing, and energy harvesting, the property of locomotion has not yet been demonstrated. In this work, we introduce an inversion moulding technique compatible with autoperforation that allows for the patterning of an external catalytic surface that enables locomotion in an accompanying fuel bath. Optimal processing conditions for electroplating a catalytic Pt layer to one side of an autoperforated CSM are elucidated. The self-driven propulsion of the resulting Janus CSM in H2O2 is studied, including the average velocity, as a function of fluid surface tension and H2O2 concentration in the bath. Since machines have to encode for a specific task, this work summarizes efforts to create a microfluidic testbed that allows for CSM designs to be evaluated for the ultimate purpose of navigation through complex fluidic networks, such as the human circulatory system. We introduce two CSM designs that mimic aspects of human immunity to solve search and recruitment tasks in such environments. These results advance CSM design concepts closer to promising applications in medicine and other areas.

Graphical abstract: Autoperforation of two-dimensional materials to generate colloidal state machines capable of locomotion

Associated articles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 mar 2020
Accepted
09 jun 2020
First published
11 jun 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Faraday Discuss., 2021,227, 213-232

Autoperforation of two-dimensional materials to generate colloidal state machines capable of locomotion

A. T. Liu, J. F. Yang, Lexy N. LeMar, G. Zhang, A. Pervan, T. D. Murphey and M. S. Strano, Faraday Discuss., 2021, 227, 213 DOI: 10.1039/D0FD00030B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, 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 commercial 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