Recyclable Nanomotors for Dynamic Enrichment and Detection of Low‐Concentration Emerging Pollutants

Abstract

Emerging pollutants, known for their high toxicity, pose significant risks to human health and the environment. However, the identification of these pollutants is difficult and costly due to their low concentration and complex composition. Here, a cost‐effective and scalable identification method is demonstrated to rapidly concentrate and detect emerging pollutants at ultra‐low concentrations. The approach takes advantage of responsive autonomous propulsion R‐Fe3O4@Au@β‐CD‐EG‐PF127 (RAP) nanomotors driven by magnetism, to significantly enhance the efficiency of pollutant adsorption in large‐scale water. Owing to the fast driving capability and multi‐interaction mechanism, nanomotors can effectively capture trace concentrations of emerging pollutants, achieving a capture efficiency of over 90%, while also ensuring that all captured pollutants fall within the enhanced electromagnetic field range of the nanomotors. This leads to highly sensitive surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signals with detection limits as low as 10−10 m. Contaminated nanomotors showcase significant self‐cleaning capabilities that can be activated through temperature variations, resulting in a substantial reduction in detection expenses. Even after undergoing cyclic experiments, the nanomotors consistently exhibit remarkable capture efficiency and outstanding SERS sensitivity. This work can provide a scalable and practical technical solution to eliminate and monitor the transport of emerging pollutants in the environment.