Mini-EmulsionFabricated Magnetic and Fluorescent Hybrid Janus Micro-Motors

Polymeric Micro/Nanocarriers and Motors for Cargo Transport and Phototriggered Delivery

Smart polymer-based micro/nanoassemblies have emerged as a promising alternative for transporting and delivering a myriad of cargo. Cargo encapsulation into (or linked to) polymeric micro/nanocarrier (PC) strategies may help to conserve cargo activity and functionality when interacting with its surroundings in its journey to the target. PCs for cargo phototriggering allow for excellent spatiotemporal control via irradiation as an external stimulus, thus regulating the delivery kinetics of cargo and potentially increasing its therapeutic effect. Micromotors based on PCs offer an accelerated cargo-medium interaction for biomedical, environmental, and many other applications. This review collects the recent achievements in PC development based on nanomicelles, nanospheres, and nanopolymersomes, among others, with enhanced properties to increase cargo protection and cargo release efficiency triggered by ultraviolet (UV) and near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, including light-stimulated polymeric micromotors for propulsion, cargo transport, biosensing, and photo-thermal therapy. We emphasize the challenges of positioning PCs as drug delivery systems, as well as the outstanding opportunities of light-stimulated polymeric micromotors for practical applications.

A Review on Artificial Micro/Nanomotors for Cancer-Targeted Delivery, Diagnosis, and Therapy

Micro/nanomotors have been extensively explored for efficient cancer diagnosis and therapy, as evidenced by significant breakthroughs in the design of micro/nanomotors-based intelligent and comprehensive biomedical platforms. Here, we demonstrate the recent advances of micro/nanomotors in the field of cancer-targeted delivery, diagnosis, and imaging-guided therapy, as well as the challenges and problems faced by micro/nanomotors in clinical applications. The outlook for the future development of micro/nanomotors toward clinical applications is also discussed. We hope to highlight these new advances in micro/nanomotors in the field of cancer diagnosis and therapy, with the ultimate goal of stimulating the successful exploration of intelligent micro/nanomotors for future clinical applications.

Berberine nanoparticles for promising sonodynamic therapy of a HeLa xenograft tumour

Here we show that berberine (BBR) nanoparticles (BBRNPs, ∼300 nm hydrodynamic diameter) is a promising sonosensitizer for cancer sonodynamic therapy (SDT).

Metal-Free Visible-Light Photoactivated C3N4 Bubble-Propelled Tubular Micromotors with Inherent Fluorescence and On/Off Capabilities

Photoactivated micromachines are at the forefront of the micro- and nanomotors field, as light is the main power source of many biological systems. Currently, this rapidly developing field is based on metal-containing segments, typically TiO₂ and precious metals. Herein, we present metal-free tubular micromotors solely based on graphitic carbon nitride, as highly scalable and low-cost micromachines that can be actuated by turning on/off the light source. These micromotors are able to move by a photocatalytic-induced bubble-propelled mechanism under visible light irradiation, without any metal-containing part or biochemical molecule on their structure. Furthermore, they exhibit interesting properties, such as a translucent tubular structure that allows the optical visualization of the O₂ bubble formation and migration inside the microtubes, as well as inherent fluorescence and adsorptive capability. Such properties were exploited for the removal of a heavy metal from contaminated water with the concomitant optical monitoring of its adsorption by fluorescence quenching. This multifunctional approach contributes to the development of metal-free bubble-propelled tubular micromotors actuated under visible light irradiation for environmental applications.

Poly(ionic liquid)s Based Brush Type Nanomotor

A brush type nanomotor was fabricated via assembly assistant polymerization of poly(ionic liquid) and surface grafting polymerization. The method for large-scale fabrication of brush nanomotors with soft surfaces is described. These soft locomotive particles are based on core-shell brush nanoparticles assembled from poly(ionic liquid) as core and thermoresponsive PNIPAM as brush shells on which platinum nanoparticle (PtNP) were grown in situ. The particles show non-Brownian motion in H₂O₂ solution.

Selected Papers from the 2017 International Conference on Micro/Nanomachines

Thanks to their capabilities of converting various energy into motions, micro/nanomachines are believed to bring about revolutionary changes in many fields[...].