Light-controlled spiky micromotors for efficient capture and transport of targets

Abstract

Micro/nanomotors with extraordinary motion capability have shown great potential in biomedicine and environmental remediation to undertake cargo transport tasks. To realize efficient microscale cargo loading, it is critical to endow micro/nanomotors with a proper surface morphology, powerful propelling force, and great motion controllability. Herein, being inspired by pollination, a light-controlled micromotors with efficient motion and loading capacity based on sunflower pollen grain were successfully developed and investigated. Using focused laser irradiation, the convection generated by thermal Marangoni effect can effectively drive the micromotor underwater with great controllability. Moreover, the micromotor can exhibit two motion behaviors by adjusting the laser irradiation location, which can be employed for different application tasks. Furthermore, yeast cells, as a live cargo model, can be efficiently captured in the round-trip motion and transported in straight-line motion of the micromotor, while retaining high cell viability. These micromotors exhibit improved efficiency in capturing targets by introducing synergistic topographic interactions. Thus, these micromotors can be expected to largely extend the capabilities of micro/nanomotors in propulsion, motion control and cargo, thereby providing a way for the development of intelligent micromotors.