Light controlled 3D micromotors powered by bacteria

Gaszton Vizsnyiczai, Giacomo Frangipane, Claudio Maggi, Filippo Saglimbeni, Silvio Bianchi and Roberto Di Leonardo ()
Additional contact information
Gaszton Vizsnyiczai: Università di Roma ‘Sapienza’
Giacomo Frangipane: Università di Roma ‘Sapienza’
Claudio Maggi: NANOTEC-CNR, Institute of Nanotechnology, Soft and Living Matter Laboratory
Filippo Saglimbeni: NANOTEC-CNR, Institute of Nanotechnology, Soft and Living Matter Laboratory
Silvio Bianchi: NANOTEC-CNR, Institute of Nanotechnology, Soft and Living Matter Laboratory
Roberto Di Leonardo: Università di Roma ‘Sapienza’

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Self-propelled bacteria can be integrated into synthetic micromachines and act as biological propellers. So far, proposed designs suffer from low reproducibility, large noise levels or lack of tunability. Here we demonstrate that fast, reliable and tunable bio-hybrid micromotors can be obtained by the self-assembly of synthetic structures with genetically engineered biological propellers. The synthetic components consist of 3D interconnected structures having a rotating unit that can capture individual bacteria into an array of microchambers so that cells contribute maximally to the applied torque. Bacterial cells are smooth swimmers expressing a light-driven proton pump that allows to optically control their swimming speed. Using a spatial light modulator, we can address individual motors with tunable light intensities allowing the dynamic control of their rotational speeds. Applying a real-time feedback control loop, we can also command a set of micromotors to rotate in unison with a prescribed angular speed.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15974 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms15974

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15974

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().