Glucose-Fueled Micromotors with Highly Efficient Visible-Light Photocatalytic Propulsion

Abstract

Synthetic micro-nanomotors fueled by glucose are highly desired for numerous practical applications due to the biocompatibility of their required fuel. However, currently all of the glucose-fueled micro/nanomotors are based on enzyme-catalytic driven mechanisms, which usually suffer from strict operation conditions and weak propulsion characteristics that greatly limit their applications. Here, we report a highly efficient glucose-fueled cuprous oxide@N doped carbon nanotube

Visible‐Light‐Driven Janus Microvehicles in Biological Media

“…[13] Reported designs feature Janus micromotors based on photoactive materials,s uch as Cu 2 O/Au, bismuth oxyiodide,T iO 2 ,o rC 3 N 4 nanomaterials. [15] BiVO 4 -based micromotors can be readily activated by visible-light irradiation for enhanced capture of microorganisms. [15] BiVO 4 -based micromotors can be readily activated by visible-light irradiation for enhanced capture of microorganisms.…”

Emerging Micro/Nanomotor‐Based Platforms for Biomedical Therapy

“…Cu 2 O@N‐CNT sphere micromotors were propelled by light‐induced diffusiophoresis with glucose as fuel. Reproduced with permission . Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society.…”

“…With the illumination of blue‐violet light (λ ≈430−490 nm) through the microscope objective, the particles achieved self‐propulsion with a speed up to 15 μm s −1 . More importantly, a visible‐light (<700 nm) photocatalytic micromotor can be propelled at a speed of 18.71 μm s −1 with glucose as fuel. Such micromotor was composed of cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O) (photocatalytic active material) and 1.35% N‐doped carbon nanotubes (N‐CNTs) (improving catalytic activity).…”

Visible‐Light‐Driven Janus Microvehicles in Biological Media

“…According to previous reports, [20] the photoexcited electrons can be transferred also to the Fe 3 O 4 catalytic patch in the micromotors (via semiconductor junctions), [21] and recombine with its electronic levels,c reat- ing h + pairs.T he positive holes can react with water and asmall amount of peroxide or glucose present in the medium to initiate complex radical chain reactions and produce various products such as H + ,O 2 (for peroxide) or arabinose, erythrose,a nd formic acid (for glucose). [15] This leads to an accumulation of photodegradation products around the micromotor surface,w hich further propels the micromotors. Interestingly,a si llustrated in Figure 2B and Movie S2, micromotors can propel efficiently in tap water, human serum, and blood samples.T he time-lapse images demonstrate the effective displacement and prolonged micromotor propulsion over ap eriod of 50 su nder light irradiation, as compared with the negligible displacement in the absence of light.…”

“…[14] Cu 2 O micromotors doped with carbon nanotubes can be efficiently driven by visible-light-triggered photocatalytic reactions of glucose. [15] BiVO 4 -based micromotors can be readily activated by visible-light irradiation for enhanced capture of microorganisms. [16] Yet, applications have been mostly directed to environmental remediation, and only near-infrared light has been exploited for triggered drug-release schemes.…”