Enhanced ion tolerance of electrokinetic locomotion in polyelectrolyte-coated microswimmer

Xiaojun Zhan, Jizhuang Wang, Ze Xiong, Xuan Zhang, Ying Zhou, Jing Zheng, Jianan Chen, Shien-Ping Feng and Jinyao Tang ()
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Xiaojun Zhan: The University of Hong Kong
Jizhuang Wang: The University of Hong Kong
Ze Xiong: The University of Hong Kong
Xuan Zhang: The University of Hong Kong
Ying Zhou: The University of Hong Kong
Jing Zheng: The University of Hong Kong
Jianan Chen: The University of Hong Kong
Shien-Ping Feng: The University of Hong Kong
Jinyao Tang: The University of Hong Kong

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Over the last decade, researchers have endeavored to mimic the naturally motile microorganisms and develop artificial nano/microswimmers, which propel themselves in aqueous media. However, most of these nano/microswimmers are propelled by the self-electrophoretic mechanism, which has one critical incompetency: the inability to operate in a high concentration electrolyte solution, such as the most important body fluid, blood. This ionic quenching behavior is well backed by the classical Helmholtz–Smoluchowski theory and seems to be an insurmountable challenge which has shadowed the otherwise promising biomedical applications for artificial nano/microswimmers. Here, we propose that the active nano/microswimmer’s self-electrophoresis is fundamentally different from the passive nanoparticle electrophoresis. By significantly increasing the Dukhin number with polyelectrolyte coating and geometry optimization, a favorable deviation from the Helmholtz–Smoluchowski behavior can be realized, and ion tolerance is enhanced by over 100 times for a visible light-powered self-electrophoretic microswimmer.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11907-1

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