Giant Vesicles with Encapsulated Magnetic Nanowires as Versatile Carriers, Transported via Rotating and Non-Homogeneous Magnetic Fields

TL;DR

This paper presents methods for transporting magnetic nanowires encapsulated in giant vesicles using magnetic fields and hydrodynamic flows, highlighting their potential for microfluidic and biomedical applications.

Contribution

It introduces a versatile system combining magnetic guidance and vesicle deformability for controlled transport of nanowires in complex environments.

Findings

Magnetic guidance effectively transports nanowires within vesicles.

Vesicle deformability allows passage through micro-scale openings.

The system is suitable for transporting fluids and cargos in microfluidic platforms.

Abstract

In this work, two real-time methods to transport magnetic nanowires confined in giant hybrid vesi-cles upon the application of different strategies are studied. The microscale carriers are either mag-netically guided through the viscous medium by a non-homogenous field or advected by precisely monitored hydrodynamic flows. The slender geometry of the magnetic component enables the ap-plication of large torques, the in-situ characterization of the rotational dynamics, as well as the guided propulsion via the continuous thrust of the nanowire tip on the confining bilayer. The flexi-bility of the vesicles, required to deform along the steering direction during passage through mi-croscale openings, is enhanced via the adsorption of non-ionic surfactants on the lipid membrane. The resulting integrated system is an excellent candidate to transport colloidal cargos or flu-id amounts of some picoliters in microfluidic platforms, even in physiological environments, since it combines the maneuverability of propelled microscopic systems and the protection conferred by the vesicle.