Abstract
Technical design features for improving the way a passive elastic filament produces propulsive thrust can be understood by analyzing the deformation of sperm‐templated microrobots with segmented magnetization. Magnetic nanoparticles are electrostatically self‐assembled on bovine sperm cells with nonuniform surface charge, producing different categories of sperm‐templated microrobots. Depending on the amount and location of the nanoparticles on each cellular segment, magnetoelastic and viscous forces determine the wave pattern of each category during flagellar motion. Passively propagating waves are induced along the length of these microrobots using external rotating magnetic fields and the resultant wave patterns are measured. The response of the microrobots to the external field reveals distinct flow fields, propulsive thrust, and frequency responses during flagellar propulsion. This work allows predictions for optimizing the design and propulsion of flexible magnetic microrobots with segmented magnetization.
Highlights
Technical design features for improving the way a passive elastic filament the transverse waves generated by their selfpropelling undulatory systems.[1]
Several magnetic sperm-templated microrobots have evolved by bio-adhesion of magnetic nanoparticles and bovine sperm cells
The measured wave patterns and theoretical predictions based on the resistive-force and regularizedStokeslets theories are combined to determine their fluid response, propulsive thrust, and frequency response during flagellar propulsion
Summary
A desirable approach for magnetizing the passive flagellum is to cover its surface with nanoparticles, resulting in an organic body with agglomerated magnetite particles. This self-assembly process between the negatively charged bovine spermatozoa and positively charged iron oxide particles results in various configurations (see Figure 1), that can be sorted into different categories based on the location of the magnetized segment along the following four segments: the flat 10-μm-long, 5-μm-wide, and 1-μm-thick head; the mitochondrial sheath surrounded midpiece located adjacent to the head with relatively high stiffness; the principal and most flexible piece of the tail; and the distal end (see Figure 1a) If we consider these four distinct segments of the cell body, and that each segment can either contain magnetic particles (mi ≠ 0) or not ( mi = 0), we obtain fifteen categories, where mi is the magnetization of the ith segment along the cell. Separation of sperm by their net surface charge has been proposed as a method for
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