journal article·2022-09-27

Aquabots

Shipei Zhu, Ganhua Xie, Huanqing Cui, Qingchuan Li, Joe Forth, Shuai Yuan, Jingxuan Tian, Yi Pan, Wei Guo, Yu Chai, Yage Zhang, Zhenyu Yang, Ryan Wing Hei Yu, Yafeng Yu, Sihan Liu, Youchuang Chao, Yinan Shen, Sai Zhao, Thomas P Russell, Ho Cheung Shum

ACS Nano· Volume 16· Issue 9
Publisher page

Abstract

Soft robots, made from elastomers, easily bend and flex, but deformability constraints severely limit navigation through and within narrow, confined spaces. Using aqueous two-phase systems we print water-in-water constructs that, by aqueous phase-separation-induced self-assembly, produce ultrasoft liquid robots, termed aquabots, comprised of hierarchical structures that span in length scale from the nanoscopic to microsciopic, that are beyond the resolution limits of printing and overcome the deformability barrier. The exterior of the compartmentalized membranes is easily functionalized, for example, by binding enzymes, catalytic nanoparticles, and magnetic nanoparticles that impart sensitive magnetic responsiveness. These ultrasoft aquabots can adapt their shape for gripping and transporting objects and can be used for targeted photocatalysis, delivery, and release in confined and tortuous spaces. These biocompatible, multicompartmental, and multifunctional aquabots can be readily applied to medical micromanipulation, targeted cargo delivery, tissue engineering, and biomimetics.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Micro and Nano Robotics · Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence · Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, (SAR), Hong Kong, P. R. China

Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley 94720, California, United States

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China

School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, National Engineering Research Center for Colloidal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, P. R. China

Department of Chemistry, University College London, London WC1H 0AJ, United Kingdom

Department of Physics, The City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, P. R. China

Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, U.K.

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, P. R. China

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen 37077, Germany

Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge 02138, Massachusetts, United States

Polymer Science and Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003, Massachusetts, United States

Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, P. R. China

WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

Advanced Biomedical Instrumentation Centre, Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong 999077, (SAR), Hong Kong, P. R. China

Funding

Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee · Army Research Office · Basic Energy Sciences · Croucher Foundation · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Foreign Technology Cooperation Plan of Guangzhou

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