Journal article
Self-assembly of robotic micro- and nanoswimmers using magnetic nanoparticles
Journal of nanoparticle research : an interdisciplinary forum for nanoscale science and technology, v 17(3), pp 1-11
17 Mar 2015
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Micro- and nanoscale robotic swimmers are very promising to significantly enhance the performance of particulate drug delivery by providing high accuracy at extremely small scales. Here, we introduce micro- and nanoswimmers fabricated using self-assembly of nanoparticles and control via magnetic fields. Nanoparticles self-align into parallel chains under magnetization. The swimmers exhibit flexibility under a rotating magnetic field resulting in chiral structures upon deformation, thereby having the prerequisite for non-reciprocal motion to move about at low Reynolds number. The swimmers are actuated wirelessly using an external rotating magnetic field supplied by approximate Helmholtz coils. By controlling the concentration of the suspended magnetic nanoparticles, the swimmers can be modulated into different sizes. Nanoscale swimmers are largely influenced by Brownian motion, as observed from their jerky trajectories. The microswimmers, which are roughly three times larger, are less vulnerable to the effects from Brownian motion. In this paper, we demonstrate responsive directional control of micro- and nanoswimmers and compare their respective diffusivities and trajectories to characterize the implications of Brownian disturbance on the motions of small and large swimmers. We then performed a simulation using a kinematic model for the magnetic swimmers including the stochastic nature of Brownian motion.
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Details
- Title
- Self-assembly of robotic micro- and nanoswimmers using magnetic nanoparticles
- Creators
- U. Kei Cheang - Drexel UniversityMin Jun Kim - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Journal of nanoparticle research : an interdisciplinary forum for nanoscale science and technology, v 17(3), pp 1-11
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 11
- Grant note
- CMMI 1000255 / National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF) Korea Institute of Science and Technology Global Research Laboratory (K-GRL) W911NF-11-1-0490 / Army Research Office National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRF); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000355017500004
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84925064816
- Other Identifier
- 991019330632804721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
- Nanoscience & Nanotechnology