Electric field-induced chemical locomotion of conducting objects
Open Access
- 1 September 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Communications
- Vol. 2 (1), 535
- https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1550
Abstract
Externally triggered motion of small objects has potential in applications ranging from micromachines, to drug delivery, and self-assembly of superstructures. Here we present a new concept for the controlled propulsion of conducting objects with sizes ranging from centimetres to hundreds of micrometres. It is based on their polarization, induced by an electric field, which triggers spatially separated oxidation and reduction reactions involving asymmetric gas bubble formation. This in turn leads to a directional motion of the objects. Depending on the implied redox chemistry and the device design, the speed can be controlled and the motion can be switched from linear to rotational. This type of chemical locomotion is an alternative to existing approaches based on other principles.Keywords
This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit:
- Versatile Procedure for Synthesis of Janus-Type Carbon TubesChemistry of Materials, 2011
- Micromachine‐Enabled Capture and Isolation of Cancer Cells in Complex MediaAngewandte Chemie-International Edition, 2011
- Microbots Swimming in the Flowing Streams of Microfluidic ChannelsJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2010
- Rapid Fabrication of Bimetallic Spherical MotorsLangmuir, 2010
- Nanomotor-based ‘writing’ of surface microstructuresChemical Communications, 2010
- Propulsion of nanowire diodesChemical Communications, 2010
- Powering NanorobotsScientific American, 2009
- Autonomously motile catalytic nanomotors by bubble propulsionApplied Physics Letters, 2009
- Particle-localized AC and DC manipulation and electrokineticsAnnual Reports Section "C" (Physical Chemistry), 2009
- Separation of Metallic from Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon NanotubesScience, 2003