pH-Sensitive Oscillatory Motion of a Urease Motor on the Urea Aqueous Phase

A self-propelled object coupled with an enzyme reaction between urease and urea was investigated at the air/aqueous interface. A plastic object that was fixed to a urease-immobilized filter paper was used as a self-propelled object, termed a urease motor, placed on an aqueous urea solution. The driving force of the urease motor is the difference in the surface tension around the object. Oscillatory motion or no motion was triggered depending on the initial pH of the urea solution. Both the frequency and maximum speed of the oscillatory motion varied depending on the initial pH of the water phase. The mechanisms underlying the oscillatory motion and no motion were discussed in relation to the bell-shaped enzyme activity of urease in the enzyme reaction and the surface tension around the urease motor.     

Self-Propelling Hybrid Gels Incorporating an Active Self-Assembled,Low-Molecular-Weight Gelator

Hybrid gel beads based on combining a low-molecular-weight gelator (LMWG) with a polymer gelator (PG) demonstrate an enhanced ability to self-propel in water, with the LMWG playing an active role. Hybrid gel beads were loaded with ethanol and shown to move in water owing to the Marangoni effect changes in surface tension caused by the expulsion of ethanol – smaller beads move farther and faster than larger beads. Flat shapes of the hybrid gel were cut using a “stamp” – circles moved the furthest, whereas stars showed more rotation on their own axes. Comparing hybrid LMWG/PG gel beads with PG-only beads demonstrated that the LMWG speeds up the beads, enhancing the rate of self-propulsion. Self-assembly of the LMWG into a “solid-like” network prevents its leaching from the gel. The LMWG also retains its own unique function – specifically, remediating methylene blue pollutant dye from basic water as a result of noncovalent interactions. The mobile hybrid beads accumulate this dye more effectively than PG-only beads. Self-propelling gel beads have potential applications in removal/delivery of active agents in environmental or biological settings. The ability of self-assembling LMWGs to enhance mobility and control removal/delivery suggests that adding them to self-propelling systems can add significant value.     

Dynamic Coupling at the Ångström Scale

While momentum transfer from active particles to their immediate surroundings has been studied for both synthetic and biological micron‐scale systems, a similar phenomenon was presumed unlikely to exist at smaller length scales due to the dominance of viscosity in the ultralow Reynolds number regime. Using diffusion NMR spectroscopy, we studied the motion of two passive tracers—tetramethylsilane and benzene—dissolved in an organic solution of active Grubbs catalyst. Significant enhancements in diffusion were observed for both the tracers and the catalyst as a function of reaction rate. A similar behavior was also observed for the enzyme urease in aqueous solution. Surprisingly, momentum transfer at the molecular scale closely resembles that reported for microscale systems and appears to be independent of swimming mechanism. Our work provides new insight into the role of active particles on advection and mixing at the Ångström scale.     

The Application of Micro‐ and Nanomotors in Classified Drug Delivery

Micro and nanomotors (MNMs) are micro/nanoscale devices that are able to convert chemical or external energy into mechanical motion. Based on a multitude of propulsion mechanisms, synthetic MNMs have been developed over the past decades for diverse biomedical applications, particularly drug delivery. Herein, we set out the classification of drugs delivered by MNMs, such as small molecules, nucleic acid, peptides, antibodies, and other proteins, and discuss their current limitations and possibilities in in vivo applications. Challenges and future perspectives are also discussed. With the increasing research enthusiasm in this field and the strengthening of multidisciplinary cooperation, intelligent MNMs will appear in the near future, which will have a profound impact on all related fields.     

Micro/Nanomotors for Water Purification

Self-propelled micro/nanomotors are synthetic machines that can convert different sources of energy into motion; at the same time, they are able to serve innovative environmental applications, for example, water purification. The self-propelled micro and nanomachines can rapidly zoom through the solution, carrying catalytic surface or chemical to remove or degrade pollutants in a much faster fashion than that of static systems, which depend on diffusion and fluxes. This review highlights the recent progress of micro/nanomotors in water pollutant detection and pollutant removal applications.     

Biocatalytic Micro- and Nanomotors

Enzyme-powered micro- and nanomotors are tiny devices inspired by nature that utilize enzyme-triggered chemical conversion to release energy stored in the chemical bonds of a substrate (fuel) to actuate it into active motion. Compared with conventional chemical micro-/nanomotors, these devices are particularly attractive because they self-propel by utilizing biocompatible fuels, such as glucose, urea, glycerides, and peptides. They have been designed with functional material constituents to efficiently perform tasks related to active targeting, drug delivery and release, biosensing, water remediation, and environmental monitoring. Because only a small number of enzymes have been exploited as bioengines to date, a new generation of multifunctional, enzyme-powered nanorobots will emerge in the near future to selectively search for and utilize water contaminants or disease-related metabolites as fuels. This Minireview highlights recent progress in enzyme-powered micro- and nanomachines.     

全附体ONRT船模在波浪中自航的数值模拟

采用基于重叠网格技术的CFD方法数值研究了全附体ONRT船模在迎浪工况中自航的水动力特性.文中数值计算采用自主开发的面向船舶与海洋工程的CFD求解器naoe-FOAM-SJTU.自航计算中船体运动及螺旋桨转动等通过重叠网格技术完成,波浪环境则采用求解器中的三维数值造波和消波模块实现.计算中自航船模的螺旋桨转速通过静水自航数值计算得出,波浪工况计算采用东京2015 CFD会议中标准算例进行设置.数值计算结果,如船体运动、实时航速变化等,与试验数据进行了对比分析.此外,给出了数值预报的推力和扭矩系数,并且通过详细的流场信息来分析和解释了船模在波浪中自航过程中的水动力变化情况.数值预报结果同试验值吻合较好,说明采用当前结合重叠网格技术和CFD的数值方法可以很好地预报波浪中自航问题.     

A Chemotactic Colloidal Motor

Chemotaxis plays a crucial role in the realization of various functions of human life such as fertilization, immune function, inflammatory response, regeneration processes, etc. Inspired by the natural chemotaxis, colloidal motors with chemotactic ability can realize intelligent sense and targeted navigation, which bring a revolutionary method to biomedical applications like precision medicine. However, the application in the biomedical field requires the colloidal motors with submicrometer scale, strong chemotactic ability and clear chemotactic mechanism. In this Concept article, we introduce the recent progress of chemotactic colloidal motors, covering the fundamental theory behind experimental advancements. Particularly, the torque-driven reorientation motion of the submicrometer-sized colloidal motors during chemotaxis is discussed, and also their underlying mechanism is proposed. With the continuous research on chemotactic colloidal motors, it is believed that the emerging chemotactic colloidal motors will broaden practical applications in the biomedical field.