Photoactivated
Colloidal Dockers for Cargo Transportation
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Abstract
We introduce a self-propelled
colloidal hematite docker that can
be steered to a small particle cargo many times its size, dock, transport
the cargo to a remote location, and then release it. The self-propulsion
and docking are reversible and activated by visible light. The docker
can be steered either by a weak uniform magnetic field or by nanoscale
tracks in a textured substrate. The light-activated motion and docking
originate from osmotic/phoretic particle transport in a concentration
gradient of fuel, hydrogen peroxide, induced by the photocatalytic
activity of the hematite. The docking mechanism is versatile and can
be applied to various materials and shapes. The hematite dockers are
simple single-component particles and are synthesized in bulk quantities.
This system opens up new possibilities for designing complex micrometer-size
factories as well as new biomimetic systems