Unraveling Charge Transport in Heterostructured Nanomotors for Efficient Photocatalytic Motion.

Photocatalytic micro/nanomotors have emerged as promising tools for environmental remediation, biosensing, and targeted delivery. To enhance their light-driven propulsion, significant efforts have focused on engineering semiconductor heterostructures, which promote charge separation. However, a clear understanding of how these architectures govern photocatalytic mechanisms and influence motion performance remains limited.

Dual-Energy Integration in Photoresponsive Micro/Nanomotors: From Strategic Design to Biomedical Applications.

Micro/nanomotors (MNMs) are highly versatile small-scale devices capable of converting external energy inputs into active motion. Among the various energy sources, light stands out due to its abundance and ability to provide spatiotemporal control. However, the effectiveness of light-driven motion in complex environments, such as biological tissues or turbid water, is often limited by light scattering and reduced penetration.

Boosting the Efficiency of Photoactive Rod-Shaped Nanomotors via Magnetic Field-Induced Charge Separation.

Photocatalytic nanomotors have attracted a lot of attention because of their unique capacity to simultaneously convert light and chemical energy into mechanical motion with a fast photoresponse. Recent discoveries demonstrate that the integration of optical and magnetic components within a single nanomotor platform offers novel advantages for precise motion control and enhanced photocatalytic performance. Despite these advancements, the impact of magnetic fields on energy transfer dynamics in photocatalytic nanomotors remains unexplored.

Bubble-propelled micromotors for ammonia generation.

Micromotors have emerged as promising tools for environmental remediation, thanks to their ability to autonomously navigate and perform specific tasks at the microscale. In this study, we present the development of MnO tubular micromotors modified with laccase for enhanced oxidation of organic pollutants by providing an additional oxidative catalytic pathway for pollutant removal. These modified micromotors exhibit efficient ammonia generation through the catalytic decomposition of urea, suggesting their potential application in the field of green energy generation.

Molecular Imprinted BiVO Microswimmers for Selective Target Recognition and Removal.

Analogous to photosynthetic systems, photoactive semiconductor-based micro/nanoswimmers display biomimetic features that enable unique light harvesting and energy conversion functions and interactions with their surroundings. However, these artificial swimmers are usually non-selective and provide ineffective target recognition, resulting in poor surface analyte binding that affects the overall reactivity and motion efficiency. Here, the surface engineering of light-driven BiVO microswimmers by molecular imprinting polymerization is presented.