Reconfigurable multi-component micromachines driven by optoelectronic tweezers

Shuailong Zhang,M Dean Chamberlain,Xinyu Liu,Mohamed Elsayed,Yujie Chen,Jiaxi Peng,Yanfeng Zhang,Siyuan Yu,Ran Peng,Weizhen Li,Steven L Neale,Aaron R Wheeler,Adele Nikitina

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25582-8

Abstract

There is great interest in the development of micromotors which can convert energy to motion in sub-millimeter dimensions. Micromachines take the micromotor concept a step further, comprising complex systems in which multiple components work in concert to effectively realize complex mechanical tasks. Here we introduce light-driven micromotors and micromachines that rely on optoelectronic tweezers (OET). Using a circular micro-gear as a unit component, we demonstrate a range of new functionalities, including a touchless micro-feed-roller that allows the programming of precise three-dimensional particle trajectories, multi-component micro-gear trains that serve as torque- or velocity-amplifiers, and micro-rack-and-pinion systems that serve as microfluidic valves. These sophisticated systems suggest great potential for complex micromachines in the future, for application in microrobotics, micromanipulation, microfluidics, and beyond.

Highlights

There is great interest in the development of micromotors which can convert energy to motion in sub-millimeter dimensions
Opto-chemical micromotors have been demonstrated for interesting applications, but require highly specific operating conditions, including motors formed from photoactive materials and an environment that contains photochemically active reagents
There have been many successful demonstrations of OTactuated micromotors that can carry out complex mechanical operations, including microfluidic pumping[38,39], directed tissue growth[10], and precise cell/particle translation[12,40]

Summary

Introduction

There is great interest in the development of micromotors which can convert energy to motion in sub-millimeter dimensions. Various combinations of rotation and translation enable manipulation of many micro-gears in parallel (Supplementary Movie 3 and Fig. 1e–h), a key property that is leveraged in the micromachines described below.

Results

Conclusion