Feng K, Ureña Marcos JC, Mukhopadhyay AK, Niu R, Zhao Q, Qu J, Liebchen B. Self-Solidifying Active Droplets Showing
Memory-Induced Chirality.
Adv Sci (Weinh) 2023;
10:e2300866. [PMID:
37526332 PMCID:
PMC10520641 DOI:
10.1002/advs.202300866]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Revised: 05/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023]
Abstract
Most synthetic microswimmers do not reach the autonomy of their biological counterparts in terms of energy supply and diversity of motions. Here, this work reports the first all-aqueous droplet swimmer powered by self-generated polyelectrolyte gradients, which shows memory-induced chirality while self-solidifying. An aqueous solution of surface tension-lowering polyelectrolytes self-solidifies on the surface of acidic water, during which polyelectrolytes are gradually emitted into the surrounding water and induce linear self-propulsion via spontaneous symmetry breaking. The low diffusion coefficient of the polyelectrolytes leads to long-lived chemical trails which cause memory effects that drive a transition from linear to chiral motion without requiring any imposed symmetry breaking. The droplet swimmer is capable of highly efficient removal (up to 85%) of uranium from aqueous solutions within 90 min, benefiting from self-propulsion and flow-induced mixing. These results provide a route to fueling self-propelled agents which can autonomously perform chiral motion and collect toxins.
Collapse