An automated platform for assembling light-powered hydrogel microrobots and their subsequent chemical binding

Vrba, Jan; Maslen, Charlie; Maxová, Jana; Duras, Jan; Řehoř, Ivan; Mareš, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.jocs.2021.101446

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Otherwise, the capillary-driven self-assembly alone could hardly obtain freestanding structures in situ; some postcrosslinking methods are requisite, such as adding curing agents or cooling down for solidification. [59] The mechanism of fast interfacial adhesion is also applicable to other interactions such as electrostatic attraction. [32] Following the above self-propulsion and self-assembly mechanism, an averaged MSA efficiency was obtained in the form of assembly ratios via a statistical summary from 50 independent assembly events.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The coating beneath host and guest groups provides compliant surfaces for sufficient molecular recognition rapidly following a multivalent mechanism, thus strengthening the interfacial binding forces [40] between macroscopic components. Otherwise, the capillary‐driven self‐assembly alone could hardly obtain freestanding structures in situ; some post‐crosslinking methods are requisite, such as adding curing agents or cooling down for solidification [59] . The mechanism of fast interfacial adhesion is also applicable to other interactions such as electrostatic attraction [32] …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Hydrolyzable Supra‐amphiphile as a Marangoni Self‐Propulsion Fuel for Efficient Macroscopic Supramolecular Self‐Assembly

Zhu

Zhang

et al. 2023

Angewandte Chemie

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Self‐assembly of μm‐to‐mm components is important for achieving all‐scale ordering with requirements of extra energy for motion and interaction of components. Marangoni flows caused by surfactants on water provide appropriate energy but have limited lifetimes because of the inevitable interfacial aggregation and difficult decomposition of aggregated covalent surfactants that inactivate Marangoni effects. Here we have synthesized a supra‐amphiphile Marangoni “fuel”—sodium‐4‐(benzylideneamino) benzenesulfonate (SBBS)—that can be hydrolyzed in a timely manner to a species without surface activity to extend the motion time by 10‐fold. The motion was optimized at pH=2 by a fine equilibrium between the releasing and removal of interfacial SBBS, leading to the self‐assembly of millimeter‐scaled ordered dimers. The underlying mechanism was interpreted by motion analyses and simulation. This strategy provides an active solution to self‐assembly at the μm‐to‐mm scale, as well as interactive ideas between miniaturized chemical robots.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Hydrolyzable Supra‐amphiphile as a Marangoni Self‐Propulsion Fuel for Efficient Macroscopic Supramolecular Self‐Assembly

Zhu

Zhang

et al. 2023

Angewandte Chemie

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“…Connecting several individual microrobots together in a defined manner may extend their functionalities beyond mere crawling locomotion; however, such a process is limited to several microrobots, due to its serial nature. [ 49 ] Complex, organized, actuating structures require at least tens of elemental microrobot units and, hence, are not accessible by such top‐down directed assembly methods with acceptable throughput. Therefore, we adopted a new approach to robotic units’ organizationself‐assembly (Figure 1B).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For automatic disc navigation, a previously developed software was used. [49] Parallel Self-Assembly: The wells for parallel self-assembly experiments were prepared by pipetting 35 μL of the Sylgard elastomer base and curing agent mixture (10:1 v:v) into one cylindrical well of a 96-well plate and curing overnight at 65 °C. The bowl shape of the elastomer was produced by the wetting of the well walls by the elastomer.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogel Microrobots Self‐Assembled into Ordered Structures with Programmable Actuation

Kropacek

Maslen

Dijk

et al. 2023

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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Sub‐millimeter robots—microrobots—that can autonomously perform mechanical work at the microscale would radically change new areas of human activity such as micromanipulation, microfabrication, or healthcare. Sets of identical microrobots that can connect into different, larger structures open the possibility for a “universal” microrobotic unit that fulfills a large variety of functions derived from the structure that multiple units can be assembled into. The capability of individual hydrogel microcrawlers to self‐assemble under confinement into periodically ordered planar structures is demonstrated. Subsequently, these can be bound together using light to form a solid porous sheet. The lateral shape of the sheet is imprinted during the binding process. Furthermore, the sheets bend into 3D structures, where the bending direction can be programmed. The resulting structures actuate anisotropically when exposed to heat or laser illumination and can be designed for various modes of operation, such as manipulation or untethered locomotion. The formation of ordered microstructures from individual mobile robots enables easier transport and remote assembly of these structures at the place of interest without the need for direct intervention.

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“…For example, Yang et al reported a snake-like biomimetic soft robot synthesized by three layers of graphene oxide (GO) and polydopamine. [13,[30][31][32][33] The soft material is capable of bidirectional deformation when near-infrared many researchers have studied the movement of snakes. [34] Wang et al reported a snake-like soft robot consisting of a…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Underwater Bionic Snake Soft Robot with Tunable Deformation and Motion Based on Composite Materials

Wang

Yuan

Guo

et al. 2023

Adv Materials Technologies

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in underwater object manipulation and marine environment monitoring. Aquatic organisms and amphibians in nature provide great inspiration for the design and manufacture of novel underwater soft robots, which has attracted increased attention from the research community. [9][10][11][12][13] However, the controllability of the driving force still faces great challenges. Existing driving methods mainly include optical drive, [14][15][16][17] magnetic drive, [18,19] and electric drive. [20,21] Among them, optical drive has the highest controllability and tunability, so it is widely used to drive bionic soft robots in underwater operations. In addition, the use of soft smart materials increases the flexibility of bionic robots, reducing the need for heavy, and traditional rigid materials and sensing and actuation components. Most light-driven soft robots are made of liquid crystals [22][23][24][25][26][27] and hydrogels [19] that can undergo various deformations. Mechanical swing is important for converting input energy into continuous motion. Wang et al. reported a light-driven swing actuator composed of polyimide (Kapton) and azobenzene containing liquid crystal polymers. [28] The photoactive bilayer films were prepared with benzene-carboxylic acid containing monomer (M 6 BCOOH) and azobenzene-containing monomer (M 6 ABOC 2 ). When exposed to ultraviolet light, the double-layer film bends. The high modulus of the Kapton layer gives the film great resistance, so the film quickly returns to its resting position after UV light is removed. The double-layer strip exhibits mechanical swing behavior under continuous UV irradiation. Ma et al. also made a light-driven swimmer based on the above double-layer structure. [29] The swimmer bends quickly under UV light and recovers immediately after removing the light. When placed on a liquid surface, swimmers beat the liquid rhythmically, constantly propelling themselves forward.Snake is a kind of amphibian. Despite its simple body structure, it can realize a variety of locomotion forms, such as concertina locomotion and serpentine locomotion, to adapt to the changeable environment. So far, many researchers have studied the movement of snakes. For example, Yang et al. reported a snake-like biomimetic soft robot synthesized by three layers of graphene oxide (GO) and polydopamine. [13,[30][31][32][33] The soft material is capable of bidirectional deformation when near-infrared many researchers have studied the movement of snakes. [34] Wang et al. reported a snake-like soft robot consisting of a

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An automated platform for assembling light-powered hydrogel microrobots and their subsequent chemical binding

Cited by 10 publications

References 29 publications

A Hydrolyzable Supra‐amphiphile as a Marangoni Self‐Propulsion Fuel for Efficient Macroscopic Supramolecular Self‐Assembly

A Hydrolyzable Supra‐amphiphile as a Marangoni Self‐Propulsion Fuel for Efficient Macroscopic Supramolecular Self‐Assembly

Hydrogel Microrobots Self‐Assembled into Ordered Structures with Programmable Actuation

An Underwater Bionic Snake Soft Robot with Tunable Deformation and Motion Based on Composite Materials

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