Electric-Field Guided Precision Manipulation of Catalytic Nanomotors for Cargo Delivery and Powering Nanoelectromechanical Devices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates precise 3D manipulation of catalytic nanomotors using electric fields, enabling targeted cargo delivery and powering nanomechanical devices with high controllability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel electric-field based method for 3D control of nanomotors, including alignment, speed regulation, and integration with nanodevices, confirmed by quantitative modeling.

Findings

Nanomotors can be accurately aligned and speed-controlled with combined AC and DC E-fields.

Nanomotors can be transported in 3D, including vertical movement.

Successful demonstration of cargo delivery and powering nanomechanical devices.

Abstract

We report a controllable and precision approach in manipulating catalytic nanomotors by strategically applied electric (E-) fields in three dimensions (3-D). With the high controllability, the catalytic nanomotors have demonstrated new versa-tility in capturing, delivering, and releasing of cargos to designated locations as well as in-situ integration with nanome-chanical devices (NEMS) to chemically power the actuation. With combined AC and DC E-fields, catalytic nanomotors can be accurately aligned by the AC E-fields and instantly change their speeds by the DC E-fields. Within the 3-D orthog-onal microelectrode sets, the in-plane transport of catalytic nanomotors can be swiftly turned on and off, and these cata-lytic nanomotors can also move in the vertical direction. The interplaying nanoforces that govern the propulsion and alignment are investigated. The modeling of catalytic nanomotors proposed in previous works has been confirmed quan-titatively here. Finally, the prowess of the precision manipulation of catalytic nanomotors by E-fields is demonstrated in two applications: the capture, transport, and release of cargos to pre-patterned microdocks, and the assembly of catalytic nanomotors on NEMS to power the continuous rotation. The innovative concepts and approaches reported in this work could further advance ideal applications of catalytic nanomotors, e.g. for assembling and powering nanomachines, nano-robots, and complex NEMS devices.