Ion‐Exchange Enabled Dual‐Functional Swarms with Reconfigurability and Magnetic Controllability

Abstract

In nature, many organisms are capable of self‐organizing into collective groups through local communications to perform complex tasks that individuals cannot complete. To date, the reported artificial microswarms either rely on toxic chemical reactions for communication or lack the hierarchical controllability and functionality, which is unfavorable for practical applications. To this end, this exploits the ion‐exchange reaction enabled hierarchical swarm composed of cationic ion exchange resin and magnetic microspheres of internal information exchange. The swarm is reconfigurable under magnetic fields, generating ordered structures of controllable mobilities and even reversed hierarchy, able to navigate in confined and complex environments. Moreover, the swarm shows interesting communications among each other, such as merging, splitting, and member exchange, forming multi‐leader groups, living crystals, and complex vortices. Furthermore, the swarm functions as a dual‐functional microreactor, which can load, transport, and release drugs in a pH‐enhanced manner, as well as effectively degrade antibiotics via light‐enhanced Fenton‐like reaction in polluted water. The organized structure of the swarm greatly improves the drug loading/transport efficiency and the local concentration of catalysts for fast pollutant removal. This design lays the foundation for the design of dual‐functional micro/nanorobots for intelligent drug delivery and advanced environmental remediation.

Kinematics-Based Design Method and Experimental Validation of Internal Meshing Screw for High-Viscosity Fluid Mixing

“…This innovative design enables the screw within the stator to execute both rotation and constant-speed reverse revolution motions to achieve an extension-dominated flow field, featuring positive displacement transport characteristics, efficient mixing and dispersion properties, as well as short-process and low-energy consumption attributes [14]. The advantages of the internal meshing screw mixer have led to its adoption in various manufacturing processes [15], including multi-component plastic blending capacity modification [16,17], organic and inorganic hybrid function modification [18,19], thermoplastic fiber reinforced modification [20,21], high-speed molding of refractory processing materials [22,23], and modification of materials exhibiting extreme rheological behavior [24][25][26], etc. Despite its widespread use across various industries, including polymer processing, it has yet to be implemented in the food industry.…”