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A biodegradable, all-polymer micromotor for gas sensing applications
Journal article   Peer reviewed

A biodegradable, all-polymer micromotor for gas sensing applications

Mei Liu, Yunyu Sun, Taoping Wang, Zhenrong Ye, Hui Zhang, Bin Dong and Christopher Y. Li
Journal of materials chemistry. C, Materials for optical and electronic devices, v 4(25), pp 5945-5952
01 Jan 2016

Abstract

Materials Science Materials Science, Multidisciplinary Physical Sciences Physics Physics, Applied Science & Technology Technology
In this paper, we report an all-polymer micromotor, which consists of a biodegradable polymer main body (polycaprolactone) and a natural enzyme 'engine' (catalase). Not only can this micromotor be self-propelled in the presence of a fuel, it also exhibits fluorescence gas sensing properties toward HCl and NH3 gases through the introduction of a dye molecule. As compared to the static one, the micromotor shows a faster response which can be attributed to the solution mixing process induced by the continuous motion. In addition, due to the biodegradability of polycaprolactone, this micromotor is capable of slowly degrading in solution. The features shown in this study, such as the metal-free structure and the gas-sensing capability, make the current micromotor potentially attractive for environmental monitoring applications.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Physics, Applied
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